Of Metal and Magic
by Astronomiae
Summary: Blue Team is sent on a scouting mission to an unknown planet rumored to be in Insurrectionist space. They're expecting many things, like humans, advanced tech, and strange wildlife, but not these black monsters, magic, and... gigantic mechashift weapons? Rated T for language.
1. Chapter 1

_[Long Ago]_

"Are you sure of this, milady?" A rough, almost scratchy voice tore through the dark, damp room, the only sources of light being small blue rectangles in the walls.

"I am." A much more feminine voice replied, the voice as smooth as the finest of silk, but sharper than the edge of a hardlight blade. "While those council fools squabble about the fate of our kind, they fail to realize we have no choice in the matter. They think that some super weapon will destroy the parasite?" The woman barked out a laugh almost as rough as her acquaintance's voice. "Please. The only choice we have left is to run and hide, and wait for our time to stand up once again and retake the Mantle."

The shadowy figures walked up to a small spherical object, slowly blinking in flashes of blue light as though it had a heartbeat. One of the figures, the taller, slimmer one, reached out and took ahold of it, caressing as one would a baby. "This seed will be the one to return us to greatness, my friend." Suddenly, the blinking sped up, almost blinding the smaller, gruffer individual in the room. The woman, however, only smirked wider. "Nothing will stand in my way. Not those insignificant humans, not the San'Shyuum, and not even the Forerunner."

The blinking sped up to the point it was a constant light, illuminating the entire room for the eye to see. It was large, easily larger than the size of a two story house, and covered in blue lights. They traveled through tubes in the steel walls, said walls decorated with seemingly ancient symbols. The most eye catching part, however, was the dead Forerunner bodies that littered the room's floor, coloring it red with blood, and the two robed figures standing in the center of the chaos.

Suddenly, the light blinked out of existence, leaving the room shrouded in darkness once again. The darkness combined with the silence gave the room an eerie feel, causing the hunched over figure to shiver. "M-Milady, I fear we're running out of time. The oracle will wipe itself clean if we delay any longer."

With a sigh, the woman gave a nod (not that he could see it in the dark room anyways) and began chanting a quiet ritual. The orb started glowing again, this time in red however, and began to vibrate. The woman continued undisturbed, chanting louder and louder as the shaking got more intense. Eventually, the entire room began to shake, debris falling from the roof due to it. It was as if God himself decided to make it his personal mission to prevent the two in the room from continuing the ritual.

Sadly for God, the woman was far more powerful than he. The ritual continued like that for nearly another quarter hour until, finally, the orb stopped shaking and the woman stopped chanting. The red light gently dimmed out into darkness, leaving behind nothing but the two in the room gasping for sweet air. The panting slowly turned into chuckling as they relished in their victory.

Neither noticed the small speck of blue light leave the orb, shooting out through the information tubes in the walls.

"We finally did it, Atan 'Srama. You will be rewarded heavily for your contributions." The Sangheili nodded, bowing deeply to the woman. "Go on home to your clan, my friend. I must continue this by myself. If I require your assistance, I will summon you." With another nod, the male left the room, his armored feet clattering loudly against the metallic floor.

"Soon... Very soon..." With another dark laugh, the woman left the room, her reflection on the blood revealing a pair of black sclera and red irises without pupils.

* * *

 _[23rd of August, 2528]_  
 _[At the edge of UNSC controlled space]_

Onboard the UNSC cruiser, Last Haven, four SPARTAN-IIs stood at attention. The first of these four were Linda-058, the team sniper. She stood at an impressive 6'8", standing well above any non-SPARTAN, and had shoulder length red hair and calculative green eyes. She was, perhaps, the coldest member on Blue Team, despite her "hot" looks, as the ODSTs onboard say.

The next was Kelly-087, Blue Team's reconnaissance and heavy weapons specialist. Standing at a height of 6'7", she is the smallest SPARTAN of Blue Team. Her hair is brown at the roots with faded blue at the tips due to her constantly dying it over the years. She has blue eyes that, while warmer than Linda's, are still quite cold. She's also the fastest SPARTAN-II conceived.

The man next to Kelly is Frederic-104, a CQC specialist and the second-in-command to Blue Team. He stands at a towering 6'9", has black hair with eyes to match, with a scar over the right eye. This only adds to his already intimidating look, which serves to scare off any marine who has the galls to strike up a conversation with one (or both) of their female members.

The final, and arguably the most important, was John-117. The leader of Blue Team and, at one point, the entirety of the SPARTAN-IIs. He stands slightly taller than Fred, at a 6'10" without his armor, but is slightly slimmer than him. His brown hair is clean shaven in a military buzz cut, signifying he got it cut very recently. HIs bright blue eyes stared straight ahead, piercing through anyone walking in front of him.

Standing in front of the four SPARTANs was a much smaller man, standing at an average 5'11", is the captain of the ship, Captain Nicholas deGreene, with a stern expression on his average middle aged face. "What do you four have to say for yourselves?" Even his voice was average, signifying there was absolutely nothing remarkable about the man besides his rank.

117, as he is known to the crew due to the confidentiality of his name, stepped forward. "Sir, at approximately 0700 hours Blue Team secured the package. However, as we approached the landing pad, the package started beeping. It wasn't until too late that we realized it was a dud, sir."

Captain deGreene sighed, pinching the bridge of his temples while glaring at the floor in irritation. "I see... Very well." He crossed his arms behind his back and looked up at the stone faces of the SPARTANs. "Due to your failure, you four are to be relocated. We got our hands on some Insurrectionist files describing a lost planet of humans. ONI has decided Blue Team would be sent there with a small crew of marines and a couple teams of Orbital Drop Shock Troopers. You are to scout the area and attempt to establish a base. You are not, by any means, to interact with the natives, less you either start a conflict between us and them or alert any Insurrectionists on or nearby the planet. Understood?"

The four nodded, giving a crisp salute and a chorus of loud 'Yes Sir!'. "Good, dismissed soldiers." With one last salute, the four turned on their heels and walked out of the briefing room with silence unheard of from people their size.

With an annoyed sigh, Fred-104 sat down on his bunk and rubbed his face. "Man, one little mistake and suddenly we're put on scouting duty? Aren't SPARTANs supposed to be humanity's first line of defense or somethin'?"

Linda-058 made a grunt of agreement as she cleaned her favorite sniper rifle - a heavily modified SRS99-S5 Anti-Material sniper rifle which she dubbed 'Nornfang'* - like she always did when she was annoyed. And angry. And sad. Come to think of it, she did that for every occasion.

"I know!" Came the British reply of the team's residential scout. "I mean, I can't complain, it is what I'm best at, but I'd much prefer scouting the Covenant than some backwater Insurrectionist planet." Fred nodded in agreement to Kelly's statement, crossing his arms over his muscular chest.

"It's idiotic. Sure, we were trained to fight the Insurrection, but now? Now we're here to kick some Covie ass. Right Chief?" All of them (sans Linda) looked over at said man, who was too busy swiping through a data pad with a look of concentration.

"Hm?" Was his deep, eloquent reply as he looked up from the pad. "Oh, right." He sighed as he set it aside on the metal table, him leaning against the wall next to it with a shrug. "If they feel the need to send a team of SPARTANs, then it must be important. We made a mistake, but usually they'd punish us by making us run drills or clean the mess halls with a dog brush. But this? This isn't punishment. This is a mission, and if ONI themselves requested we do it, then it has to be important."

The others, including Linda this time, looked at each other in thought, and eventually each nodded in agreement. "True 'nuff Chief." They gave each other quick chuckles before each went to their SPARTAN sized bunks. They had to be resized to fit each SPARTAN's enhanced height and weight, in order for the beds not to break under the pressure.

"Now get some sleep, Captain deGreene wants us up at 0600 for proper debriefing and prep." Each nodded and went to their separate bunks, quickly calling in for the night in hopes of getting enough rest for the mission tomorrow.

* * *

 _[29th of July, New Valean Calendar_ _]_

 _[Kingdom of Vale, Remnant]_

A long, high pitched sigh was heard from within a small apartment room on the west side of Vale, also known as the "Crime District", by less than reputable individuals. The sigh came from a petite girl, who took it upon herself to become the literal personification of all things Goth and Halloween itself, AKA Ruby Rose. A 15 year old huntress-in-training who just so happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Meaning, right now, she was currently tied up to a metal chair with aura resistant rope to keep her down. All thanks to some fashion queen douche nozzle wearing a bowler hat - _seriously, who wears freakin' bowler hats?_ \- with mascara. To put a long story short, she tried stopping the guy from robbing some poor old sap and got herself captured for her troubles. Now she was currently fearing for her life. And, more importantly, her looks.

Ruby Rose did _not_ trust this man to keep her looking pretty. Not with his fashion sense.

She was currently struggling futilely against the ropes in hopes of escaping as said fashion freak watched in amusement, his multicolored sidekick watching from the sidelines with a crazed smirk. "Now now Red, we wouldn't want you to hurt yourself against that rope, now would we?" He asked in that _dang_ condescending tone he always uses when talking to her. It only made her struggle harder, since she wanted nothing more than to punch his smug face into the dirt!

Too bad she tried that already. And failed. Hey, she was only a huntress-in-training, and was still two years away from graduating Signal. Give her credit for even being able to fight the esteemed criminal for longer than five minutes. _And take out his goons!_ She added to her thoughts.

Plus it didn't exactly help when that ice cream styled girl came out of nowhere and knocked her sweet precious baby out of her hands. _I will avenge you Crescent Rose! And after I do, I promise I'll get you a paint job as an apology for being so clumsy!_

Simply put, she wasn't a happy camper. She was a very _un_ happy camper at the moment. The man sighed as he put out his cigar, stomping it out beneath his boot, and started walking towards the struggling 15 year old. "Maybe you're a little too dense to get what I meant..." And he proceeded to backhand her, her aura doing nothing to soften it due to the rope, and give her a glare as he grabbed her cheeks, one red from the strike. "Quit struggling!"

This got the desired affect of making her stop from both pain and fear, a loud gulp being heard from her throat. "Atta girl. We'll make you a show dog yet." He gave her another condescending smirk as he backed away, thankfully walking out of the room with his sidekick in tow.

As soon as the door closed, Ruby let out a breath she didn't know she was holding. She shook her head and attempted to get her thoughts under control. "Okay Ruby... Let's think over our options... One, you're trapped in a room in God knows what apartment, and you don't have your sweetheart on you. Can't really do much... Your aura is being blocked by the aura resistant ropes thanks to the clear dust intertwined with the fabric... Hmm..." She chewed on her cheek in thought, her eyes darting around the room frantically for something to help her with her situation.

"C'mon Rose... You've been in worse! Remember that time Uncle Qrow tied you at the top of a tree near a Nevermore nest? Yeah! That was _way_ worse than this situation!" Except for the fact that Nevermore are too stupid to move anything sharp away! Gah! Why can't criminals be that stupid like in the movies?

With a small whine, she dropped her head in defeat. However, something shiny caught her eye as she looked down. _YES!_ She shouted in her mind. _A freakin' Godsent needle! Must've been stuck in my jacket from when I sewed it shut..._ With a mental equivalent of a shrug, she focused all her efforts into picking up that needle. Thankfully, they took off her boots due to her kicking the guy's... lower area... so she can grab the needle easily!

Now she just needs to get it in her hands. Which are behind the chair.

Ruby never said she was the best at planning ahead. She wracked her head for a solution, thinking of all those Spruce Willis movies she saw as a kid to find the best means of escape. With a realization gasp, she started rocking the chair back and forth. Maybe she can tip the chair over, grab the needle, and cut through the rope like that! Genius!

So, she kept rocking back and forth. And so, she knocked the chair over. And, thus, the chair broke from contact with the floor. "..." Well, the entire hotel _is_ pretty crappy and breaking down as it is... So why wouldn't the chair? Ruby quickly stood up, the rope falling to the floor since it's too big to wrap around her, and she wiped herself clean of dust. "Ah yes, all apart of my plan!" She half yelled half whispered. She looked around the room once more, checking to see if anyone saw/heard the chair break. After a minute or so of silence, she decided the coast was clear, and she slowly stalked towards the door she saw them place her sweetheart in.

Upon opening it, she was treated with the sight of dozens of cases of lien, dozens more bags of dust, and just as many casings of ammunition and weapons. Shrugging at all the treasures in front of her, the Goth themed girl bent over and grabbed a rectangular... box. Well, it was red and black, so there's that.

She strapped it to her back with a satisfied grin and shut the door, accidentally shutting it a little louder than intended.

Which, for whatever reason, alerted Roman and his thugs. _Not that I'm complaining, but how on Remnant does a chair breaking and me talking not alert these guys, but me closing a door kinda loud does? I don't get these people._ She sighed, grabbing the red rectangular box, and pressed a button to reveal a...

A _huge freakin'_ _scythe_. Seriously! It was bigger than this girl times three! It's silver blade was slightly serrated to chip away an enemies aura and provide maximum damage to any Grimm or bad guy she faces, with a small tube protruding from the top. It was roughly 4mm in diameter and looked like it fired... Bullets. Plus the scope near the middle of the handle points to it being a gun as well as a scythe. But not just any gun! No! It was a high-caliber sniper-scythe! Or a snyther. At the bottom of the gigantic handle was a sharp dagger like blade, most likely used for quick jabs at enemies from behind and/or stabbing into the ground. Or people.

A group of men in black suits with red ties and sunglasses barged through the door, aiming their meager weapons (or at least compared to the 10 foot snyther in front of them) at the 5 foot girl. She gave each of them a challenging smirk, getting into a ready stance with her weapon. As the first goon fired, she leapt at them. She tore through them, managing only to knock them out thanks to their aura, with extreme ease. Even untrained grunts don't stand a chance against a huntress-in-training, after all.

But the two people that could stood right in front of her, AKA Roman Torchwick and Neopolitan their signature cane and umbrella in their hands respectively. She aimed the snyther at them, quickly shooting at them with the pump action rifle half of the weapon, firing around 3 rounds per second due to her semblance. Despite this, the two were more than capable of dodging and blocking her weapon's fire, causing her to become more annoyed by the second. How dare they shrug off her weapon! She'll have to do some _major_ upgrading when she got back to Patch...

The thought was forced to quickly be banished from the petite girl's mind as she was forced to jump to the side to evade a thrust from Neo's umbrella. The tip of the umbrella stabbing into one of Ruby's many roses that she leaves behind from her semblance. The smaller girl leapt back from a wide swing from the overly large scythe, which was then blocked by Roman, who had a smirk on his face. "Hey there Red, you just couldn't wait to see me again could ya?" Said girl growled in what she would assume to be threatening, but only ended up cute, and lunged at the man. She pointed the dagger end of her scythe at the man, forcing him to roll to the side to avoid being impaled. The speedster quickly maneuvered her handle to block a stab from Neo, who didn't let up at all as she continuously stabbed and swiped at the young girl, forcing her to backpedal from the force. She was only able to block all the strikes thanks to her semblances, but she was unable to block the blunt strike Roman gave her on her shoulder, causing her to droop her scythe enough for Neo to pass it with her umbrella.

Ruby managed to jump away in time from being stabbed, and glared at the two in front of her. Her breath was slightly heavier, showing her fatigue from fighting two highly trained individuals at the same time. She had a few cuts from Neo to show how tired she was, as her aura hadn't yet immediately heal them. The bowler hat wearing man twirled his cane, letting out a low chuckle as he strode forward. "Well, it's been fun and all Red, but I'm afraid we gotta go. Boss wants us back and all that. Toodle doo!" Their figures shattered into glass, showing an empty yet destroyed hallway, and leaving the small girl alone. She slowly leaned against the wall, her breathing hard and ragged. She was barely conscious enough to hear the sound of high heels clanking down on the floor, and hear some lady mention about how she was "in so much trouble". Then, nothing but the sweet embrace of unconsciousness enveloped her.

* * *

 **Hello again guys! So, I'm back with this. Decided to focus on it and work on my writing until I'm comfortable enough to write my main.**

 **Anyways, this is the Halo x RWBY crossover I mentioned. I've been planning it since I got into RWBY. F** **our months ago. So yeah, I hope its decent.**

 **The story will focus majorly on Blue Team and Team RWBY, and is going to be an AU on both accounts (duh). But I did that because, frankly, I dislike stories that follow canon to a tee. Kinda defeats the purpose of FF. But hey, that's just me. The main characters are going to be John and Ruby, but the rest of the teams will still be very prominent in the story. Including JNPR.**

 **There'll probably be no ships, but who knows? I've never written romance, but I'm willing to give it a shot if you all want me to.**

 ***It was originally Target, but I was corrected. I didn't actually know she named her sniper in canon, my mistake. :P Nornfang: "Fang of Fate" in Norse mythology.**

 **Until next time.**


	2. Chapter 2

_[29th of August, 2528]_  
 _[On the Insurrectionist Controlled Planet, "Remnant"]_

It was quiet. Far too quiet to make any logical sense to one Master Chief Petty Officer. There was life on this planet, that was certain, but why weren't they making any noise? The swamp they're in should be teeming with life and sound, and yet, the only sound being made is the water swishing around the MJOLNIR Mk. IV armor they have on.

It was unnerving. What out there could spook even the tiniest of insects silent? Chief motioned for the members of Blue Team to keep an eye on their radar, just to be safe, as he trudged along through the slimy water of this swamp. He scanned all around their area multiple times but couldn't find a damn thing.

They've been on this planet only for a couple of hours, and haven't found a single sign of life other than plants and bacteria. They know there are some type of animals here, since they've seen half eaten plants, foot prints, and even blood from something.

So where was everything? On no other planet he's ever been on has there been animals so bent on hiding themselves from them. Maybe they had the appearance of the apex predator around here, he rationalized, but that still leaves questions. Like why haven't they seen them instead? It makes for a very cautious group of super soldiers, that's for sure.

With a quiet sigh, he lifted a fist to signal for the group to stop. He turned on his comm channels, making sure to mute his helmet so no voice filters out, and spoke up, "We should probably head back to HQ. We haven't found anything and it's unlikely that we will anytime soon."

Each SPARTAN nodded in agreement, deciding that was the best course of action. As they turned around, though, they were met with the menacing stares of large red eyed creatures with bone masks and black hide. There were around five of them, each standing a little taller than John, but much wider. They had the appearance of a bear from Earth, except for the bones.

Each SPARTAN raised their rifles, clicking the safety off as they do so, and slowly started backing away. The large bear like creatures started advancing, their growls putting the SPARTANs on edge. "Easy there... No need to start something none of us want..." Fred started, hoping it would somehow cause the bears to back off.

It didn't, much to his chagrin. Kelly would have laughed at him for it, had one of the monster bears not jumped at her. Time slowed ever so slightly as she spun around the sloppy strike, allowing her to fire off her pair of M7 Submachine guns, most of the bullets bouncing off of the tough hide harmlessly. Kelly sucked in a breath in shock, sadly giving the bear time to knock her away with its thick forearm. She slammed into the trunk of a tree with a grunt, her armor taking the brunt of the force thankfully.

She stood back up, shaking off the dizziness, and quickly rolled out the way of another strike. She rolled up and fired some more of her 5x23mm ammunition at the monstrous bear, backing up as she did so to keep distance. These bears may be big, but damn they're fast. Not as fast as a SPARTAN, but definitely faster than should be possible for a bear.

The bullets were shrugged off for the most part, some managing to pierce its hide, but most falling harmlessly to the ground. The beast gave a fierce roar and charged once again, forced Kelly to front flip over the bear to avoid another collision. She grunted as she landed and took off, speeding through the slimy water to add distance between the bear and herself.

 _Okay,_ she thought, _their hides are thick enough to take two entire clips of my SMG. Meaning they are much tougher than most Covenant forces, save maybe the Hunters._ She growled silently under her breath as she dodged another strike from the tank of a bear. She looked over at the rest of her team, hoping to see them faring better than she. Linda was having some difficulty, but unlike Kelly, her weapon managed to actually hurt the beasts. Fred was taking on two at a time with his knife, which was able to cut through their hides, but he looked to be having more trouble than the rest of them. John was probably having the same amount of trouble as she was, seeing as he didn't have any powerful weapons on him to pierce the skin of the bears.

With another growl, she sidestepped the bear's claws and elbowed the thing in its snout, causing it to recoil and roar in pain. Kelly gave a satisfied smirk, realizing a way to beat this monster. She followed up with a high knee towards its chest, getting a loud crack! from her troubles. The speedster ducked under the bear's sharp jaws as it tried clamping down on her and moved inside its defenses. She jabbed, kicked, elbowed, kneed, and even head-butted the beast as hard and fast as she could. She might not have been a CQC specialist like Frederic, but she was still a hella good fighter.

She planted her heel into the side of the bear's face, causing it to get knocked back into a tree with a loud snap. The bear laid there silently as Kelly got in a defensive position in the event it came back. Luckily for her, it didn't.

Making sure it was dead by stomping in its throat, she made her way over to her team leader and childhood friend. He seemed to be finishing up with his own bear if the headlock was any indication. He twisted the bear's neck with a crack, and let it drop to the ground. Both looked at each other and nodded before turning towards the other half of their team. Linda had already taken care of hers and was helping Fred take out the last one. This one, they noted, had more bones on its body than the other four did.

They started moving in to assist their teammates, but were stopped when they heard trees snap behind them. They turned around and were greeted by a huge black crocodile with the same red eyes and bone mask on its face. The beast was at least twenty feet in length, which was more than enough reason for the two SPARTANs to turn tail and get the hell out of there.

Luckily, Fred and Linda just finished off the last bear in time to see their teammates run by them. They looked behind and saw what they were running from before deciding that John and Kelly had the right idea.

Let it be said that SPARTANs never run from a fight. They do, however, run from what would definitely be a massacre. Maybe if they had heavier equipment, more ammunition, and weren't tired from fighting some super bears, then they wouldn't run. However, that's not the case, so they ran.

John was trying to think over all possible escape routes or ways to stop or slow down the gigantic lizard behind them. His mind was running much faster than his legs in that attempt, but he couldn't figure out a good enough plan. The twenty foot long monstrosity could easily bash through any trees it came across, and was quick enough to maneuver out of any obstacle too big for it to bash through. His eyes darted back and fourth as he sprinted with almost frantic desperation. If he didn't come up with a plan and soon, then he and his team would surely be crocodile lunch.

His eyes caught onto something very big, very thick, and very close. He looked at it and gave a sigh of relief. It was, without a doubt, the biggest tree in this entire swamp, and should be big enough to stop the croc from eating them. "Over there!" He pointed towards it before turning on his heels, the water making it a little more difficult to turn.

The four SPARTANs sprinted there as fast as they could, with Kelly leading and Frederic in the back. Upon arriving at the gigantic tree, each one jumped up to grab on one of the lower branches. The climbed up just in time for the black crocodile to slam into the tree, causing it to shake but not fall down. They heaved a sigh of relief but kept climbing up. No way were they going to risk being that close to the croc, even if it couldn't reach them.

* * *

Linda looked through the scope of her rifle, Nordfang, at the surrounding area. At the moment, they were higher than any other tree in the swamp. It was quite odd, she had to admit, that there was such a huge tree in the center of it. Almost like those fantasy stories she reads in her downtime when she isn't tending to her beloved rifle. With a hum she zooms in on the horizon, seeing a flock of birds flying in the sky.

That caught her off guard, since it was the first signs of life she's seen since their encounter with the bears and crocodile. Come to think of it, how were there bears, crocodiles, and birds on this planet? Those were native to Earth and a zoos in the colonies. And, in addition to that, why were they so tough and large? She may have never been to Earth, but she's read enough books to understand that normal animals are not that strong. This might be some sick experiment world that the Insurrection is using in hopes of replicating the super soldier serum, she rationalizes.

With a quiet sigh, she sets her rifle to the side and leans back against the trunk of the tree. She hears the quiet murmurs of Fred and Kelly on the branch below - probably talking about the same thing she's thinking about - and closes her eyes. She leans her helmeted head against the trunk, her mind thinking over all the events of today.

 _It started out normal; we landed here with a few pelicans for supplies, we set up base with the help of a platoon of marines and a team of ODSTs, and we went north to scout for anything that can be considered suspicious. But that's when things got... Weird. There was absolutely no signs of life. No bugs, no rodents or this planet's equivalent, nothing. It was like that for a couple hours, but then those things show up and start beating back four highly trained SPARTANs? Just what was this planet?_

She was shaken out of her thoughts when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She opened her eyes and looked at the curious visor of her team leader and friend. She could sense he was curious, and slightly worried, about her state. "Thinking about what happened today?"

She nodded, sighing quietly as she sat up fully. "Yeah. It's too weird to wrap my head around. I can't really understand this place no matter how hard I think." He gave an amused chuckle (which was more akin to a grunt than anything) as he sat down next to her.

"It isn't our job to understand it. We just have to scout it out, send in our report, and go back to the field where we belong." She nodded, humming quietly in agreement. "Anyways, I tried contacting the base, but I couldn't connect properly. There's some kind of interference, meaning we need to find whatever is causing it, and get rid of it ASAP."

The redhead looked at him, tilting her head slightly. "What could be causing it? As far as I can tell, there's nowhere safe around here for somebody to be stationed." He shrugged as he stood up and he held a hand out towards her.

"No clue, but we need to find it if we plan on using our comms for long distance." She took his hand and stood up, nodding at him as he climbed down to the lower branch, presumably to tell Fred and Kelly what he just told her. She slung her rifle onto her back, the magnets attaching it to her. She gave one last look around the area, this time searching for anything that appears manmade, before climbing down after John.

* * *

It could be said that Ruby Rose's week was turning out to be terrible. First she fails the surprise test her Uncle Qrow gave her to keep her on her toes during summer, then she accidentally destroyed some poor farmer's cabbage stand when she was rushing home from a friend's. Then she accidentally cut herself when she was repairing her sweetheart from the surprise test. And then, when she decides to go to Vale to get her favorite magazine 'Weapons Weekly', she gets attacked and kidnapped by some criminal dude with his psychopath sidekick. And now, to top it all off, she was being interrogated by a Huntress who seems to fancy the idea of being a complete and total dominatrix.

The last part, in Ruby's completely unbiased opinion, actually wasn't that bad though.

"Are you listening to me young lady?!" Said dominatrix yelled in frustration, glaring coolly at Ruby with her emerald green eyes. Ruby let out a yelp, jumping slightly in surprise, and nodded quickly at the woman.

Okay... Maybe it was bad.

The woman gave a sigh, shaking her head as she looked at her scroll. "Let's recap... And this time no dozing off! You go to a dust shop for a weapons catalogue, you stop an infamous criminal from robbing the store by _fighting him in the store!_ Then you somehow get captured by him and his accomplice, and he then proceeds to take you to the west side of Vale for whatever reason." Sure, whatever reason... Besides, y'know, the fact it's literally run by criminals. Yeah, whatever reason. "But you then escape, and cause hundreds, if not thousands, of lien in property damage! And that's not even including all the dust you caused to explode by fighting Roman Torchwick in the dust shop! And to add onto that, _he got away!_ "

The Goth themed girl let out a sheepish chuckle as she rubbed the back of her neck, looking to the side to avoid eye contact. "W-Well... At least the owner is okay..." The blonde huntress sighed in exasperation, slapping her hand to her face with a loud _smack!_ from her irritation. "If it was up to me, I'd send you home with the entire bill of the expenses..." This caused Ruby's shoulders to droop, a dark cloud appearing above her head. "... and a congratulations for being able to actually fight off someone of his caliber." And now her head was held high, a smug expression on her face. "But, sadly, it isn't up to me." She sighed as she pushed up her glasses.

At that moment, the door creaked open and a man with a cane walked in. But, more importantly (to Ruby), he was holding a tray of cookies with a glass of milk. Her mouth started watering at the sight, her eyes sticking onto the plate even as he set it down. The man looked on in amusement, a small smirk tugging at his lips. "Hello Miss Rose." He looked in her eyes, him bending down slightly to get a better look. "You have gorgeous silver eyes." This got both an embarrassed blush and an awkward chuckle from the young girl. The man's smirk only grew from the expressions.

He sat down and took a sip from the mug he carried on the tray, nodding at her to let her know its okay to take some of the treats. She gingerly took one and slowly ate it, savoring the warm flavor. "Now Miss Rose... Do you know who I am?" At this, the young girl swallowed the cookie quickly and nodded.

"Of course. You're Professor Ozpin of Beacon Academy. And she's Glynda Goodwitch, a professor at Beacon." She stated with a small smile, getting one in return from the gray haired man.

"Correct. And would I be right to assume a dusty old crow taught you how to use one of the most dangerous weapons in existence?" The girl nodded, a small grin stretching on her face.

"Yep! That's my Uncle Qrow, he taught me everything I know since I was young." Ozpin nodded, sipping his coffee with a hum. He looked over at his assistant, who in turn only gave him an annoyed glare and looked away. He chuckle softly, turning around to look at the petite young woman.

"I see... Well, Miss Rose, how would you feel about coming to my academy?" He knew the answer; everyone did. He knew very well that Ruby Rose wanted, more than anything, to become a Huntress. And her school of choice for accomplishing that goal has always been Beacon, since her mother and uncle attended there when they were younger.

"... But I still have two years left at Signal. I'm good, but I don't think I'm that go-" She was cut off by Ozpin.

"Please, just answer the question Miss Rose." He gave her a friendly smile behind his mug, taking another sip of the beverage.

Ruby gulped, chewing on her lip nervously, and nodded. "More than anything, Professor Ozpin."

His smile grew at that, whereas Glynda's frown deepened. "Initiation is three days from now. I hope you'll be there." With that, he stood up, and walked out of the room, Glynda following closely behind him, and leaving a shocked Ruby sitting in front of the long forgotten tray of cookies.

* * *

"Are you sure this is a good idea, Ozpin?" An annoyed Glynda questioned her superior after they exited the room, her stern glare showing confusion and irritation.

"Tell me, Glynda. What do you see when you look at that girl? Do you see a weak little girl who can't handle herself, or do you see a strong huntress-in-training who may very well be the next greatest Huntsmen of her time?" His question caused Glynda to scowl, thinking over her answer.

"I see both. I see a little girl who doesn't understand how the real world works. I see a kid who, as far as they're concerned, is in over their head. She may have been trained by Qrow, she may be Summer's daughter, but she is not ready for this. She's only 15, I'm certain she'll be better prepared two years from now."

Ozpin sighed, shaking his head in disagreement. He leaned on his cane, his leg cramping up slightly from the stress put on it. "We might not have two years. This war... It won't wait for her to become ready. It won't wait for any of them. As much as I hate having to get these kids ready for a war they have no part in, I have to. That includes Miss Rose. She'll be ready, as will the rest of them." With that, Ozpin walked down the hall with an irate Glynda following behind, her thoughts lost in the context of his statement.

* * *

 **Hello once again! I don't have an update schedule planned for this, so I'll probably just type up chapters by the daily. I have a lot of free time on my hands right now, so it works for me.**

 **Anyways, we're finally delving into the actual story. Little bits and pieces of the AU's story is coming into play with that last scene, and Blue Team finally encountered their first Grimm! And don't worry, if you're afraid that I'm overpowering the Grimm, I'm not. They were just caught off guard by their incredible strength and speed compared to normal animals. They won't make that mistake again.**

 **As for Ruby, she's going to Beacon. The scene was pretty similar to canon, but with tiny changes to make it feel different. Hope you enjoyed this chapter, and leave a favorite and/or a follow if you like it so far! Reviews of all kind are welcome, positive or not.**

 **Until next time.**


	3. Chapter 3

_[31st of August, 2528]_  
 _[Western Vale]_

Frederic-104 was usually considered a calm, yet light hearted individual, by his fellow SPARTANs. He had a great sense of humor, could hold a normal conversation, and was a capable leader and fighter. These were just a few of his good points. However, tire him out enough, and he becomes the exact opposite of everything listed above.

It was usually a difficult chore to make Fred an angry and impatient man, but walking for nearly three days straight with little rest, little food and water, and a ton of damn animal-like aliens fighting him to the death tends to wear a man down.

Which got Blue Team into the predicament it was currently in. "I told you, Fred! This was a terrible idea!" Shouted said team's typically cool headed sniper, who was trying her best not to be ran over by the huge herd of two meter tall black bulls.

"Well sorry! I thought it'd be similar to normal bull riding! Not this!" He shouted back, trying equally as hard not to be speared by one of their razor sharp horns. He narrowly dodged one of the horns, which was, for whatever freakin' reason, shot out of one of the bull's heads. He gave a tired growl, irritated that nothing here makes any plausible sense.

"Both of you shut up and keep running!" The distinctly British voice of Kelly was easily heard over the stampeding bulls thanks to their innercomms. Both huffed and kept sprinting for their lives.

How'd Fred get them into this mess, you ask? Well, to put a long story short, Fred thought it was a genius idea to try and ride one of these things. Suffice to say that plan backfired the minute he climbed on one. They all immediately became hostile and stabbed the bull he was on to death. He only managed to get out thanks to the hardiness of his MJOLNIR armor, which was made of Titanium-A alloys.

Blue Team had been walking ever since they checked back in with their CO after the swamp incident, and were immediately tasked with hunting down the interfering signal, and destroying it so they could communicate with command. They walked for two days straight; walking and running hundreds of miles to get to their destination. How a signal this strong exists on a planet with no signs of civilization is unfathomable to the SPARTANs, but they didn't question it too much. They were given a mission, and they'd fulfill it.

Or they will, if they get out of this situation alive. Which was looking less and less likely as time went on. They were running low on ammo, which is why they haven't gunned these bastards down, and didn't have enough energy to fight them off with their bare hands/knives.

John had went on to scout ahead, claiming he saw a forest off in the distance and wanted to gauge just how far it was. It was during John's absence that Fred's insane idea came forth, sadly enough, so he wasn't here to rectify his (admittedly) idiotic mistake. Fred sighed, grunting as he put more distance between himself and the stampede. They were starting to outrun the bulls, which hopefully meant the black counterparts were tiring out or realizing the meal wasn't worth it.

They each gave a sigh of relief as the bulls stopped chasing them and instead turned around, having given up on the chase. They stopped running after a few more minutes just for safe measure and put their hands behind their heads to help their breathing. Fred and Kelly began to chuckle and giggle respectively, it eventually turning into full blown laughter.

Linda cracked a small, amused smile at the sight of two SPARTANs actually laughing. She supposed it was the exhaustion making them break down into the fits of giggles, but she can't blame them. It wasn't every day you outran an entire hoard of murderous bull demons with nothing more than scratches on your armor.

She looked around their surrounding area, her small smile slowly turning into a frown as she didn't recognize any of it. It was clearly a forest, but it looked different than the one John was talking about. This one looked as though it were straight out of one of the many forests in the northern hemisphere of Reach. While it gave her a warm feeling of home, it slightly unnerved her.

One, it was unmarked territory. No telling what's here, or if they're even still in the right direction. Two, there was no sign of John anywhere. She looked back at where they came and saw more fall-like forests. Yeah, definitely no sign of John. From the looks of it, they ran in the complete opposite direction of him, and since he was the one with the radio to track the signal...

They were lost. Linda groaned, her hand slapping against her helmet loudly enough to gain her companions attention. They both looked over at her curiously before quickly doing the same thing. She assumed they came to the same conclusion from the action, but couldn't help but looked towards them and ask, "Where the hell did you take us Kelly?" They had been following her, seeing as she's the fastest and all.

"Uh... Well, I was just running without any direction. So..." The redhead sighed at her response, shaking her head in exasperation. She looked over at Fred and nodded. He cleared his voice before stepping up, all previous amusement washed away with professionalism.

"Alright Blue Team, we left out dear leader out there in the wild with no back up and no way to communicate us. Any long distance communication will be blocked by the interference, so we'll have to find another way to contact him without attracting any unwanted attention. Kelly, you'll scout the immediate area to make sure there's no threats around us. Meaning a circumference of 200 meters. I'll go get us some wood we can use for a signal fire while Linda holds down fort here. Any black son of a bitch enters your sight, kill it. Understood?" Both girls nodded and headed off to do their jobs, Fred going to the nearest tree to cut off some branches.

Kelly jogged behind the cover of the forest and counted the distance she ran all the way up to 100m. She looked around as she began speed walking, a DMR at the ready for any enemy she sees. It doesn't hold much more than a single clip, but it's enough to take down at least two monsters.

She sighed quietly to herself, her eyes darting each way as she watched for anything black. The forest, while beautiful, creeped her out. Like every other place she's been to, it had an underlying feel of pure darkness. As though Satan himself walked these lands and cursed it.

As she walked, in an attempt to distract herself from the unease she felt from the forest, she thought about her team leader and childhood friend. She thought back to when she met him - and Sam - when Mendez first formed teams. Yes, he was most definitely talented back then as he was now. If not a little more competitive, if their first meeting was anything to go by. The thought gave her a small smile.

Then she thought about him in training, and how he, while not the best, always tried his hardest. It inspired her, and many other trainees, to do their best. In a way, he was like the big brother to them all, and that was even more shown when he became leader, with Jerome-092, Frederic-104, and Kurt-051 becoming leaders of their own soon after.

Of course Kelly always liked John the best - he was her first friend after all - so she always followed after him the most. Plus he was the de facto leader of all SPARTANs - the three other leaders included. In a way, it kind of made her jealous. He had an insane talent for leading and being a true soldier, meanwhile her talent was being insanely fast. Which was great and all, it made her stand out from the other SPARTANs and give her a specialty. It just didn't make her feel all too... Accomplished? She supposed that was the word.

Now, she was extremely proud of herself and how far she's come, and she wouldn't want it any other way. She was just a tad jealous that John was a natural born leader, and could rally dozens behind him just by doing a small action.

She thought about him before and after the augmentations three years ago. Nothing changed much, she realized, just the physical attributes. He stayed the same. He didn't let his new abilities get to his head, even after he proved his superiority when he defeated 4 ODSTs, killing a couple of them in the process.

He didn't act any better when he was promoted to Master Chief Petty Officer after defending one of the many outer colonies. Although the fact they lost it probably attributed to the fact he didn't act any better. It made her admire the man she came to call brother, and let her give him her undying loyalty. If he was to ever - God forbid - become a deserter of the UNSC, she would follow him with no hesitation. She was positive Linda and Fred felt the same way.

* * *

Meanwhile, the object of his team's thoughts was wandering around a lush green forest. He was forced to run into it to lose a group of those bears they fought from their first day here. And, because of that, he was separated from his team. He berated himself as he walked around, angry with himself for going ahead of them just to scout an area they were probably going to have to go anyway. He shook his head, looking around the forest for any sign of where he came from.

Usually he would be able to find the tracks he left behind, but it was like they disappeared. It put him on edge, the hairs on the back of his neck standing up from the threat looming around the forest. _This place... It feels like something is watching me from every direction. I've gotten this feeling since we first landed here, but this is the strongest its been since then..._ John looked around, checking over his shoulders and above his head every minute or so.

If he believed in objective morality, John would assume this place was the very embodiment of evil. All he could think of is 'THREAT' since he got into this forest. It was unnatural. It was suffocating, how much terror looms around this place. It was almost enough to make John feel like he was in the harsh warzone of Harvest again, with waves of Covenant coming at him with their plasma weaponry.

The Petty Officer shook his head to clear his thoughts and examined the forest around him once again. Call him paranoid, but he would rather be anxious for nothing than caught off guard by some unknown entity. Especially on this planet.

John heard the rustling of leaves behind him and swiveled on his axis, his MA37 assault rifle pointing at the bushes with his finger toying with the trigger. He steadied his breathing to get his nerves under control, his adrenaline working full time to help him focus. After a full minute of nothing, he slowly lowered his rifle before turning around. Only to be met with a large werewolf like creature, literally covered from head to toe in bone armor. It stood at least two heads taller than Chief, causing the SPARTAN to take a step back from shock.

How something that tall snuck up on him, he'd never know. Nor would he have time to think on it, as the thing literally back handed the half ton giant through a few trees. Rolling to a stop, John was barely able to dodge the monster's claws.

 _What the hell?! I haven't seen this much bone on one of these things before!_ Before he could contemplate further, the SPARTAN leader was forced to catch what would have been a very painful reunion with the beast's hand. He flipped it over with a grunt before stomping his foot down on its bare shoulder. It broke with a resounding crack and a pained howl from the owner.

Chief had to sidestep away from a spear of razor sharp claws less he be impaled before jumping back and away from the werewolf like creature. He analyzed his opponent, all the way from the way it favors its right side due to its left arm being broken, all the way to its labored breathing, showing that it feels the pain. It stood still for a few seconds, most likely doing the same to him, which shocked the super soldier. He's yet to see any semblance of intelligence from any of these beasts; they always ran at you with reckless abandon, preferring to attack and think later.

It gave a low, threatening growl in an attempt to strike fear into his heart. He mentally scoffed at the futile action. John's went toe to toe with literal walking tanks - the Covenant's Hunters - and came out the victor (albeit with internal bleeding and concussions). He readied his rifle and pulled the trigger, the 7.62x51mm rounds slamming into the creature's hardened hide and bone armor. Said bone armor began to crack under the fire, whereas its hide was pierced multiple times. It gave another pained howl and strove left before leaping at the SPARTAN. It managed to catch him by surprise as it slammed its entire body into his, forcing the assault rifle to fly out of the man's grip.

John grunted, one of his eyes scrunching up in pain. This thing hit like a literal truck. If he had to guess, he'd say this thing was as strong, if not stronger, than some Elites. Meaning he had to finish it quick. While SPARTAN strength was comparable to an Elite's, it wasn't advised to take them on without a weapon of some kind, due to their heavy training with blades and hand-to-hand. The only SPARTAN who could take one on with ease would have to be Frederic, and only because of his CQC training.

John shoved the wolf like creature off of him and pulled out his M7 Magnum, firing multiple shots into the creature's face. He shot out one of its eyes and got a few bullets lodged into the bone mask before his hand was slapped away by its meaty forearm. The larger beast scampered up before running off into the cover of the forest, leaving a winded and surprised John behind.

That thing was the weirdest thing he's seen so far, and that's saying a lot. First, it had more bone than any other creature he's seen, which he assumes means that thing is higher up in the chain of command for these monsters. Second, it was actually smart. He swore that thing used some actual hand-to-hand combat moves on him. Third, and lastly, it ran away. None ever ran, as they always fought until their prey was dead, or they were.

He quickly picked up his magnum, keeping it at the ready in case the thing came back as he walked over to pick up his assault rifle, only to notice its absence. He looked around more for it, confusion plastered on his face behind his visor. He grunted in annoyance after a minute of searching. He couldn't find it, and he was positive it was there a few minutes prior. With a defeated sigh, the Master Chief Petty Officer put away his magnum and began walking in the direction his HUD says the interference is coming from.

Usually he'd search far and wide for his team, but he can't even remember the direction he came from, let alone the direction his squad is in. It would be futile and would only get him in more life threatening situations. He hoped his team would be able to find their way to it without him...

* * *

Little did the SPARTAN-II know he was being watched by cameras placed all throughout the forest, which was named the Emerald Forest long ago by the founders of Vale.

Even worse than just being watched by cameras was the person watching said cameras. The headmaster of Beacon Academy himself, Ozpin. He hummed behind his mug of coffee, his expression perplexed. He had never seen an Atlesian Knight look and act so... Life like. Nor had he ever seen one take on a very powerful and ancient Grimm. Especially one that's so well known it has a name - _The Big Bad Wolf._ So it was easy to understand why Ozpin was confused and, if he were to admit, slightly concerned about this new Atlesian Knight.

That is, if it even is an Atlesian Knight. He's yet to see any machine so life like other than one Penny Polendina, whom was the very first Artificial Intelligence to achieve self awareness. He took another sip of his preferred drink and re-watched the entire fight. He studied the large armored being's every move. To the subtle flicks of its head, to the full on flips it performed to avoid attacks. It seemed to examine every attack fully, as if to tear apart its strengths and weaknesses. Ozpin barely knew of any non-huntsman that is that observant in battle, let alone a machine.

And so, he rules out the "robot hypothesis". Next he contemplates the man - if one is going by its body shape - being a Huntsman from another kingdom. He immediately rules that out as well, as he knew of no kingdom or Huntsman with body armor that advanced. A small frown adorns his face as a his eyebrows scrunch up into a contemplative scowl. Just who is this man? Where did he come from? What does he want?

These were a few of the many questions the brown eyed man asked himself as he watched the live feed of the man walking through the forest. Thankfully, Ozpin was able to send out a small rover to retrieve the man's rifle while he was focused on the beowolf. Most would consider it a, in teenage terms, "douche" move, but Ozpin could tell the strike had broken the rifle, and he was almost out of ammunition anyways. So, he justified his theft with 'He can't use it anyways, what's the big deal?'

He sighed as he turned around in his chair to look over his academy in thought. This man, whoever he is, was able to take on an ancient class Grimm, one that has taken down a few Hunters and Huntresses in its time. That should mean he would be well known, or at least had some form of formal education indicating he is at least even a little known. Yet Ozpin has found nothing on the walking tank since he discovered him nearly two hours ago. There was no trace of this... '117' - the number printed on his right breast plate - anywhere in the system. Ever curious, he sent a message to his old friend and general of the Atlesian military, James Ironwood, to see if he can't find out more about this anomaly.

He stood up with the help of his cane and walked over to the window, taking another sip of his coffee on his way. He looked over the courtyard of his school, looking at all the new arrivals for the initiation tomorrow. He would have to worry about the armored man another time. Ozpin had to give the first years their introduction speech, after all.

With that thought in mind, he sighed. He tended to give the same speech every year. One that would discourage the weak and inspire the strong. Its what helped give Beacon the best students. Not just because he handpicked each student, but because he gave them a disturbing image of the Huntsmen life. He wanted - no, needed to weed out the weak. He wouldn't let them die because they chased a dream too big for them. Not against the Grimm, and definitely not against _The Queen_.

He sighed. _The Queen_ was another issue here, and was the more pressing one. In order from least to greatest, the armored man ranked last, with his new students coming next, and finally her. Prioritizing his issues was always a great way to get him into the 'discourage the first years' mood, if he did say so himself.

He gave a small chuckle as he turned around and towards the elevator, completely missing the armored man looking straight into one of the many cameras on his screen... And shooting it.

* * *

 **Whelp, things are moving along faster now. Sorry for lack of character interaction, but I wanted to lay down the setting a little more so everyone can understand this AU's universe a little more.**

 **To clarify some things for Halo's half: John got the rank Master Chief Petty Officer early on in his career. He denied any rank higher, as he didn't want an actual officer position, as he prefers to be on the field full time. And for anyone worried about any romantic indication for Kelly's part: She compared him to a brother, which is directly stated around the end of her scene. And I mostly added it in to get more of a feel of both her character and to lay out some of the parts that stayed canon in the AU, as well as elaborate on her feelings towards John. I'll be doing this with the other two members as time goes on, as well as John's feelings towards them.**

 **And for RWBY: I won't reveal anything regarding the backstory of Team RWBY or Team JNPR, simply for the fact that I've only introduced one character in those teams; Ruby. And since I have, I'll elaborate on her a little, just to make up for the lack of her this chapter. I'll say she was NOT raised by Tai-Yang, which I'll probably be getting into either next chapter, or the chapter after that. This means she didn't have Yang to watch out for her, so expect a much different relationship between them than in canon.**

 **So, yeah. RWBY is much more AU than Halo honestly, and I intended for it to be that way. I actually thoroughly enjoy Halo's story, so I don't exactly feel the necessity to change much to it. And RWBY's has been established relatively well, but leaves little room for imagination in terms of adding to characters in canon, so I just have to destroy that and replace it with my own version (which will probably have a little more angst for most characters, just FYI).**

 **Anyways, thanks for reading! Remember to favorite and/or follow if you enjoy _Of Metal and Magic_ , and leave a review telling me what you think! Or what I could do better, if you'd prefer to show me off with your lore skills or just simply don't like something I did. Either or.**

 **Until next time.**


	4. Chapter 4

_[31st of August, New Valean Calendar]_  
 _[Beacon Academy, Vale]_

Blake Belladonna was having an... Interesting day, to say the least. The start of her day consisted of some blonde guy emptying his stomach onto the floor of the transport airship to Beacon. Then, said guy accidentally knocked over the Schnee heiress (insert involuntary shiver), and then quite literally exploded a hole in the middle of the court yard.

But the girl kept yelling at him for an honest mistake, so Blake, being the kind person she is, stepped in to defuse the situation. By making a smart comment about the Schnee Dust Corporation's working ethics. So Schnee stormed off, leaving a satisfied Blake and an amused (albeit confused) blonde boy behind. She decided to help him up, since she's already helped him this much, and introduced herself.

She was beginning to regret introducing herself to this boy - who introduced himself as Jaune. Not that he was a bad guy, no! He was kind and funny, sure, but therein lies the problem.

See, for as long as she could remember, Blake was always nervous when put in social situations. It's not that she couldn't hold a conversation, she just had trouble speaking to people she hardly knew. Experiences in the past have always proven its best to stay on the sidelines and learn about a person before conversing with them. Otherwise, you could meet some unsavory people. Although, she supposed she should consider herself lucky. This boy wasn't, in fact, out to demean her or harm her in any way. He was just a socially awkward guy with a tendency to ramble and make a fool of himself.

"...and so my oldest sister, Amaterasu, made me dress up as a princess one Halloween so that..." Yeah, he really had a tendency to seem like a dunce. Blake let out a chuckle from the story anyways, since it was kind of funny.

"And then, out of nowhere, Artemis, my second oldest sister, swooped in and saved me before I went trick or treating." He finished with a smile, seemingly not aware that he just told what could very well be strong blackmail material.

"You sisters seem to be quite... Eccentric, if I do say so myself." She replied with no small level of amusement, which was shown in the form of a small, but noticeable, smirk. "I've never had any siblings, so I can't say I have any embarrassing stories to tell you." _Not that I would, anyways._ She silently thought.

Jaune shrugged and rubbed the back of his neck with a chuckle. "It's cool, I'm fine with doing the talking." He smiled at her, which she replied with a shrug. "Anyways, do you know where we are?"

This caused Blake to pause midstep, her eyes wide in shock. "But... I was following you..." _You, Blake Belladonna, are a complete idiot. You knew he wasn't too smart and yet you still didn't take the lead!_ She sighed, shaking those admittedly mean thoughts away. "Well, guess we'll have to ask for directions I suppose." Jaune nodded in agreement, looking around for any passer byers.

Blake followed his lead, half of her attention being focused on finding someone. The other half, however, took the chance to fully observe the boy when he wasn't embarrassing himself. She noticed his relaxed stance, showing a possible lack of training, or such confidence in his skills that he could fight anyone without trying. Also known as arrogance. She crossed that one out - he doesn't seem to be the egotistical type. Maybe he just didn't feel the need to be prepared in a school full of others like him? Maybe, that could explain it better than a lack of training. After all, one doesn't get into the esteemed Beacon Academy without formal training. _Except for you._ She shook her head again, deciding to examine her companion later and redirected her focus on a rabbit faunus nearby.

Blake started walking up to her, only to stop as she noticed Jaune headed there as well. With a small smirk, she crossed her arms and stayed back to watch. _This oughta be good_.

* * *

Jaune Arc, the only son of the prestigious Arc family and (not so) secret mama's boy, walked with confidence only obtained by accomplished men towards the brunette faunus. He ran a hand through his hair and gave her the most charming smile he could muster when she looked over to him. He saw her gain a blush and felt his confidence soar. I might get a girlfriend on my first day here! Hells yeah! His thoughts ground to a stop when he noticed she wasn't looking _at_ him, but rather, _behind_ him. He turned around in confusion and slight anger, only to see no one behind him. He scratched his head and confusion before it finally clicked. _Blake_.

He looked over at the blackette and noticed she looked just as confused as he did. He shrugged his shoulders at her, mouthing 'What's she looking at?' She shrugged back at him before motioning to him to continue.

With a sigh of defeat, he turned back towards the rabbit girl and smiled at her again. "Hello there beautiful, I was wondering if you knew where we could find the auditorium? Ya see... She got us lost," He jabbed his thumb back towards a rather offended looking Blake from the accusation. "And I thought to myself 'Hey, Jauney-Boy, you are a man of class and chivalry, so you should take it upon yourself to help rectify your companion's mistake!' And so, after seeing a beautiful specimen such as yourself, I decided to ask you for directions. And, if all went well, maybe a date." He gave another suave smile (to him, at least) with a wink, as he gave off what he considered to be the 'cool guy vibe'.

The brunette just stared at him, complete and utter confusion plastered on her face, before pointing right of her. Jaune ran his hand through his hair again, giving her one last wink as he handed her what appeared to be a business card, then proceeded to walk back to Blake.

"And that, my black haired friend, is how its done." He gave a mock bow as she deadpanned. _Geez, tough crowd..._

Blake just shook her head and began walking. "C'mon, idiot." He grinned and followed her, leaving the poor rabbit faunus behind with nothing but that business card. She looked at it and blinked in, you guessed it, confusion. It was a rather outgoing card, if she did say so herself, but... Pink? What kind of guy gives their number on a pink business card? And what's with the tropic sunset in the background? She sighed in confused depression. Today has been _way too weird dammit!_

Meanwhile, Blake and Jaune finally managed to find the auditorium. The entire room was just filled with first year students, shocking them both. Wasn't Beacon supposed to only accept the best? If so, then why was there so many freakin' students? It baffled them, it truly did.

...

Well, except for Jaune. He didn't give a shit. Blake, however...

Actually she didn't care either. But either way, it didn't make a lick of sense. With a quiet hum, the bow clad girl walked towards a far corner to get away from all the people. Jaune didn't get the message, it appears, because he followed her without a moment's hesitation.

"... Jaune, why are you following me?" Blake raised an eyebrow at the male, putting a hand on her hip in the universal 'sassy stance'. Hopefully this got the message through his thick skull...

"Because you're my only friend at the moment?" Of course it wouldn't. She sighed in defeat and waved him to follow her as she walked to the dark and nearly empty corner. Maybe he wouldn't talk much and let her wait in silence?

"Hey, did I tell you the story where my mom and dad..." Of course not, what was she thinking? As if he'd actually let her enjoy some peace and quiet when he could share some more embarrassing tales from his childhood.

* * *

 _[1st of September, 2528]_  
 _[Emerald Forest]_

The forest, for the most part, was silent. There was the occasional bug, bird, and small mammal, but besides that, it was eerily quiet. The silence unnerved John just as it did when he first came into the forest. He was just thankful he only encountered low level beasts, like those werewolf ones (thankfully not the bone armored one he met before) and the bears. He could handle those no problem.

The hardest one he's encountered so far was one of those crow like ones, but it was barely any trouble, seeing as it wasn't an adult if the size indicated anything. It was admittedly harder than the bears, but easier than the armored wolf he met before.

A sigh fogged up his visor slightly, making him grunt in annoyance. The forest was extremely humid and had somehow seeped into his helmet, which brought up some concern. He'd have to repair his armor as soon as he gets back to HQ.

He ran out of ammo a couple hours ago, much to his annoyance, but he's only encountered a handful of the black animals since. They were easily taken down with his CQC skills, though. The SPARTAN leader made a mental note to have Fred teach him a few things on it, anyways. He was a little sloppy with some forms after all.

John tensed when he heard a loud pop, his fists clenching tightly in preparation for whatever decides to try and take him on. His eyes dart from side to side, his senses on high alert. He checked his sensors for any movement from behind him, but didn't see anything. He began to think that it was just a fluke - that he was just stressed - until he heard it again. He darted behind a tree for cover and attempted to steady his breathing.

"Okay, Spartan... Those sound similar to gun fire, it might be your team..." His tone grew dark as his eyes narrowed behind his visor. "Or it could be the Insurrectionists... I am near the interference after all..." He peaked out behind his cover after hearing the fourth 'pop'. "Guess I'll have to find out one way or another..." With determination coursing through his veins, he darted behind another tree, hoping to maintain cover.

The sixteenth 'pop' happened about five minutes ago by the time he got to where it was supposed to be. All he saw was a cliff, and nothing else. Sure, it was a tall cliff, but that was it. Maybe there was a secret entrance? He began feeling around for any abnormalities by knocking on the rocks and pressing the side of his helmet to the wall.

He heard something behind him and spun around, only to be met with a large (although still smaller than any SPARTAN) boy with brown hair and... Medieval armor? What? His three other companions wore similar medieval gear, except the one with a green mohawk. He wore something similar to a combination of rags with a shoulder pad. Strange group. He couldn't help but notice that they all had medieval weapons as well - no guns.

He pulled out his magnum and trained it on the boy, hoping he wouldn't have to reveal that it didn't have ammo. "Put your hands up!" The boys looked up at him in shock, the biggest one taking a step back from said shock. "I said put your hands up! Answer my questions without resistance and I'll consider requesting a lighter sentence for you." They all gulped and quickly raised their arms above their heads, dropping their weapons in the process.

"Good. Now, where is your base?" The look of fear slowly morphed into looks of confusion.

"What? Base? You mean Beacon?" The tallest one - the leader, John assumes - asks with a slight waver in his voice.

"Sure, that. Where is it, and where is your CO?" The Green clad SPARTAN growled out, his pistol still raised up at them. If Fred were here, he was certain the man would be silently laughing at the scared looks the kids had. Although if John had to guess, they were no older than he or the rest of his team were. Interesting, but a thought to ponder on later.

"CO? What's with all the military talk, dude?" The blue haired one replied, his voice sounding much more frightened than his leader's. He was probably new to the Insurrection, maybe even just out of training.

"Answer the question, or I'll force the answers out of you." He didn't have time for these games. He had to finish the mission and find his team, pronto.

The biggest one stepped forward, a scowl on his face. "You can't do that! We have rights!" He growled back at John. He'll admit; kid's got spunk. But it will cost him an arm if he kept going like that.

"Terrorists don't have rights as far as the UNSC is concerned." The look of anger once again morphed into honest confusion, which caused the Master Chief to ponder how new these kids were.

"What? UNSC? Wait! We're not terrorists! We're hunters-in-training man!" Mohawk kid yelled out frantically, his eyes wide in fear. "We swear! We're training at Beacon Academy! In fact, we're doing our initiation right now! Pleasedon'tarrestus!" He practically screamed. But it was his words that caused 117 to pause.

He shook his head, growling lowly. They were trying to trick him, weren't they? "Fine. Guess we'll have to do this the hard way, it seems." He flipped his magnum to where he was holding the barrel, and he threw it straight at the leader. It smacked him right in the face, making him stumble back. John rushed the blonde kid and elbowed him in the throat, effectively blocking his windpipe. He couldn't think about the consequences of that, as he jumped back to dodge an attack delivered by the mohawk boy. Chief looked at him and examined his weapons, which were a pair of bland looking daggers.

So, CQC specialist, huh? The SPARTAN got into a boxing stance as he eyed his opponents, noticing the other members getting up. He was shocked that the blonde boy was okay, since he should have died from asphyxiation from now. Seems everything on this planet was absurdly more powerful than their Earth counterparts...

The blue haired one ran up to him, brandishing a rather large halberd. Chief cocked an eyebrow behind his visor as he sidestepped a wide swing before delivering a quick yet powerful jab to his shoulder, then threw another one to his side. The boy recovered quickly though and threw a jab of his own at the behemoth of a man. It struck... But it only caused him to cradle his hand in pain with a pained yell. John grunted in annoyance as he ducked under a thrust by the Blondie, then rolled away from the quick slashes of Mohawk's daggers.

This was their plan, however, as he rolled right in front of their leader. The faux knight raised his mace above his head and slammed it down, nicking the SPARTAN in his shoulder. The strike itself was enough to make him stagger, but the freaking explosion threw him across the clearing. Shaking off the shock from an exploding mace, he stood up, only to throw himself down to dodge a strike from the green haired boy. He was not risking taking another strike from these weapons. Not if he valued living.

The Master Chief grabbed the blonde boy's wrist to stop his sword from hitting him, and effectively broke it effortlessly. He kicked the screaming boy away and spun around a strike from the blue haired one. He threw an elbow into the side of his face before kicking his shin as hard as he could. He heard a loud 'snap' and threw the pained boy behind him.

He glanced over at the last two members of the team and saw them hesitate to come over. He grunted and turned towards them, making them stumble back in fear. "Stand down, unless you want to end up like your friends over there." Mohawk listened and dropped his weapons, his hands above his head. The leader, however, only scowled and rushed him. What would be quick to a normal person was exceptionally slow to a SPARTAN. Time slowed as the armored boy neared the super soldier, and the swinging of the mace couldn't have been any slower.

He leaned back enough to swiftly dodge the weapon before swinging back towards him. Their heads butted with the force of a truck, causing the smaller boy to be thrown back from the force. Chief let out a grunt of annoyance and stepped over the now unconscious boy's body, heading over to Mohawk.

However, before he could get there, a purple wall appeared in front of him. His muscles tensed once again and he turned around, coming face to face with a blonde woman. "..." John's senses were on high alert. He could tell just by looking at her that this woman was dangerous with a capital D.

He was proven right when she raised a... Riding crop, and _threw boulders at him_. He rolled to the side, successfully avoiding them, and rushed her, only to be stopped by her throwing another boulder at him. How was she doing that? Did that crop have anti-gravity technology? How the hell did the Insurrectionists manage to put it in such a small object?

He dodged a spear of rock, making him stumble in shock. Okay, anti-gravity technology doesn't explain that in the slightest. He growled as he realized he couldn't get close to her. Dammit! If only he didn't run out of ammo... He narrowed his eyes, thinking of a way to get close to attack properly.

"Who are you?" She suddenly asked. His eyes narrowed even more. Even her voice radiated with danger. He grunted, deciding not to answer, and rushed towards her again. This time turned out no different than the others, which only further annoyed the SPARTAN.

He finally decided to answer, hoping to distract her enough to surprise attack. "Master Chief Petty Officer Sierra-117 of the UNSC Navy. Who are you?" He darted his eyes around her form, taking in every piece of information to help him attack her. He looked for a weakness of any kind while looking at her strengths. If he could plan this through right, he could probably use her strengths to his advantage...

She rose an eyebrow at the title, humming quietly. "Glynda Goodwitch. Professor of Beacon Academy." Professor? Seems these people have a well planned out backup. Although they were dead wrong if they assumed a SPARTAN would fall for their lies.

With a grunt, he started circling his target. "Your lies won't work. You Insurrectionists always sucked at lying." This got her to falter, which John used to his advantage. He rushed her, catching her by surprise, and threw a low jab at her abdomen. It connected, causing her to slide back with a pained grunt. He followed up with a spinning kick that connected with her jaw. She flew back into a tree, making it crack beneath the pressure. He sprinted towards her, but ended up being slammed into the ground faster than he could perceive. He groaned quietly, trying to get up but found he couldn't.

He felt something wrap around his neck and grabbed it. He tried pulling it off, but succeeded in only making it tighten. He scowled, looking over at where he last saw that 'Glynda' woman. She wasn't there, but rather standing right in front of him. He grunted at feeling the thing tighten even more. He looked at what she was holding and saw it was a rope. Where it came from, Chief had no clue, but if he had to guess, it had something to do with this woman's strange abilities. He saw here yank on it, causing it to constrict even more around his throat. He once again tried peeling it off, but found it to be _much_ tougher than ordinary rope. He grunted as it constricted enough to prevent his airflow, causing him to squirm around. "D-Dammit..." He grunted out, gasping for air. If only he could get close to her, then he'd be able to get her to release the rope.

"I'm sure Ozpin will be able to answer your questions, 'Master Chief'." The voice of said woman was heard over the sound of him gasping for air. If only he could get this damn rope off... He tried everything to get it off, but couldn't get it to even budge. His vision started to blur from lack of oxygen, until his vision went entirely black.

* * *

 **A/N: Changed the boulder to a rope that Glynda made from surrounding trees. Special thanks to: huntergo123 for telling me about how unrealistic that is for a SPARTAN in MJOLNIR armor. Again, thanks.**

* * *

Ruby was _very_ happy with her partner. He was quiet yet contributed to the conversation when needed, he was a capable fighter, and he was a _great_ baker! Yes, Lie Ren was indeed the best partner she could have possibly gotten. Much better than some choices. _Like that group of armored guys..._ She shuddered at the thought, but banished that thought quickly. Lie Ren was her dream partner, after all. Well, except for the fact that he didn't talk much, but it was better than him being super talkative like that Nora chick he's friends with.

She hummed quietly as she remembered how she met with him. He had just killed one of two Taijitus, basically big ass snakes, and she stumbled into the clearing after fighting off waves of beowolves. She then swooped into action and helped him take out the last one. They're styles complement each other very well, turns out, so they took out the snake Grimm very easily. Ren's automatic SMG fire tore down their defenses, allowing her to fire one very powerful round into it to finish it off. They could mow down anyone with their combined fire power! That thought made her grin and added a skip to her step.

She looked over at her green clad companion, once again taking in his appearance. The pink streak in his hair confused her, but she assumed that had a story behind it that she'd learn later. Come to think of it, he kind of looked like that martial artist, Spruce Glee. Or maybe that was her stereotyping again? Eh, either way, he was totally cool.

They continued to walk in mostly silence, with the only sounds being the occasional comment from Ruby, the rarer comments from Lie Ren, and the leaves crumpling under their shoes. Usually it would've bother the Gothic teen, but for some odd reason, she felt fine with it. As though she were enjoying the calm before the storm. She shook that thought out of her head when she caught sight of an old temple.

It was... Underwhelming, really. It wasn't as extravagant as Ruby had envisioned where the relics were. With a disappointed pout, she walked up to it, an amused Ren following closely behind. They looked at each of the chess pieces, one stare confused and the other contemplative.

"So... Which do we choose?" The high pitch voice of the red clad huntress-in-training broke their thoughts.

Ren hummed quietly and looked over their options, clearly thinking it over deeply. "That depends. Do we choose the piece that defines us best, or do we pick the piece that we want to be?"

"... Okayyy, so how about this tall white one?" She picked up the white Bishop, causing Ren to shrug in what she assumed is an 'okay'. "Cool!" She grinned widely at her partner and held out her fist for a fist bump. Ren went for a high five, the two connecting oddly.

"... We'll work on that." With his nod, she looked around and hummed. "Now... Do we wait here for more people, or do you just wanna go and see who becomes our teammates later?" She looked up at her silent partner with a questioning gaze.

"I suppose we should wait. It would be best to know everyone beforehand, just to be safe." He replied after a few seconds of thought. As usual, he used logic to answer. Ruby just grinned and nodded, since she wanted to do that too.

Only a short minute later, two individuals came into the clearing, both female. One bounced around excitedly, who also wore an absurd amount of pink. Seriously, that should be illegal. The other one was the exact opposite. She had a scowl of pure annoyance and, if she weren't mistaken, slight murderous intent. She looked as though winter decided to cover her in its white glory.

She recognized her as Weiss Schnee, and assumed the other girl was Nora Valkyrie, if Ren's description was right. As if to prove it was, the girl squealed (Ruby had to cover her ears from how loud it was) and ran at the silent boy with speeds comparable to her semblance. In the blink of an eye she crossed the entire field and _freakin' tackled her partner._ The red hooded girl blinked, her entire body tense in surprise. "Wha-"

She looked over at him, prepared to fight off the girl in case she was seriously harming him, but relaxed when she noticed he looked mildly annoyed at worst and amused at best. She breathed out a sigh of relief and relaxed her grip on Crescent Rose. She looked over at Weiss and saw her grumbling as she came over. Cracking a small smirk, she decided to strike up a conversation. "You partner seems pretty fun."

The heiress scoffed and crossed her arms in irritation. "Yeah, if 'fun' consists of constant screaming, random topic changes, and pure insanity, then yes. She is quite 'fun'." She used air quotes on each use of 'fun', causing Ruby to giggle a little.

"Eh, she doesn't seem _that_ bad. I mean, if Ren likes her, then she's gotta have some good things about her. Right?" Silence.

And more silence.

"Geez, that bad huh?"

"You have no idea." Weiss sighed before looking over the chess pieces. She hummed before grabbing the white knight, a satisfied smirk on her face. "This'll do." Nora, finally getting off of Ren, pouted with an 'aww' as she looked at Weiss' choice.

"But Weissssss! I wanted the castle!" The orange hair girl whined, her eyes growing larger than should be humanly possible.

Ruby slowly backed away with an uncomfortable look on her face. How that chick's eyes got like that, she'll never know, nor does she ever want to. She decided it would be best to let them pick their piece and walked over to her recovered partner. If she wasn't there when Nora slammed him to the ground, she'd believe nothing happened whatsoever.

"So, your friend is... Eccentric, to say the least." She gave an awkward chuckle. Ren gave her a small smile and a nod, giving a small chuckle of his own.

Deciding to open up a little information to his partner for the next four years at Beacon, he stated, "Yes. She's always been like that for as long as I can remember. She didn't have many friends because of it, but that never stopped her from being herself." Ruby nodded, looking over at the hammer wielding girl (who was currently clinging to the heiress with crocodile tears running down her face) with a thoughtful look.

"Do you think she'll make friends with her team?" He looked over at her and shrugged.

"I hope so. But even if she doesn't, I'll still be there for her." Ruby smiled at him, patting his shoulder good naturedly.

"You're a good guy, Ren." She gave a slightly teasing smirk and nudged him with her elbow, an eyebrow raised. "You two together?" She wiggled said eyebrows, her smirk blowing up into a full grin. He leaned away awkwardly with a confused look on his face.

"Uh... Not like that, no. We're just childhood friends." She pouted at his answer. Darn, he didn't fall for her tricks! _He will someday_ , she promises herself, _he will someday..._

Two more people came into the clearing, although they were running almost frantically from something. Ruby raised an eyebrow and looked over at them, seeing a black haired girl with a bow, and a blonde haired boy with white armor over his black hoodie. She tilted her head curiously. What were they running from? She got her answer, as a gigantic spider Grimm came into view. Her eyes widened at the sight, and her mouth fell agape. Why was a Widowmaker in the Emerald Forest? Those things primarily lived in caves, or ravines! She gulped and pulled out her beloved, keeping it in sniper form, and fired at the spider as quickly as she could. But as she was reloading another clip, she noticed two other individuals came into the clearing, one had long red hair and had a gladiator theme, whereas the other was blonde and... And...

And her sister? Son of a bit- "Ruby?!" She cussed loudly, it being muffled from the sound of gunfire thankfully. She groaned quietly and looked over at the blonde, taking quick notice of her red eyes.

"Heyyy Yang..." She drawled out with a slight growl, her eyes narrowing at her older sister. "What are you doing here again?" Yang, being quick to take the challenge, stepped towards the smaller girl.

"Oh, y'know, kicking Grimm ass, and about to kick _yours._ " She growled back. Metaphorical sparks struck between the two girls' glaring eyes, a sign of their clear rivalry and beef. Luckily, their partners pulled them apart before they could start anything.

"Okay, you two can settle that later. We have something we need to deal with _now."_ Pyrrha, Yang's partner, told them both, before running into action towards the 3 story spider. Ren nodded towards Ruby before doing the same, specifically after Yang left (thankfully), leaving her behind. She sighed and shook her head, pushing her family problems to the back of her mind, and kneeled down, aiming her rifle at the giant arachnid. She stilled her breathing to cease the shakiness of the gun as much as possible before firing at the beast. Thanks to the combined efforts of Ren and the bow girl firing at it with their less powerful, but much faster, pistols, she was able to pierce its thick shell every few shots.

The spider decided it had enough, and spat out a stream of sticky hot webbing at the huntsmen-in-training, causing them to break apart and run away from it. Ruby used her semblance to dodge the stream that came her way and transformed her weapon into the scythe form. She looked over at Ren and gave him a nod, then ran over to the giant Grimm. She felt the wind whip around her frame as she activated her semblance. Within seconds she reached the beast and swung her serrated blade at one of its legs. It struck home and cut straight through it like butter, causing her to grin in victory. But the Widowmaker didn't take it sitting (or more appropriately standing) down, and smacked her away with the strength of a bullhead.

Ren caught her midflight luckily and set her down. With a brisk 'thanks' she sped off again, Ren going off in the opposite direction. She noticed another one of the spiders, this one smaller but apparently more hardy, had come into the clearing. Weiss, Nora, Pyrrha, and Yang were the ones taking care of that one, while she, Ren, and the two unnamed duo were taking on this one.

Her sight narrowed on the monstrous Grimm in front of her before she made a mad dash towards another one of its legs, Ren right behind her to cut off the one behind it. It was prepared, however, and it spat its boiling hot web at the two. Ruby slid to a stop and quickly changed courses, taking Ren with her so he didn't get harmed. She noticed the bow clad girl coming up from behind the spider, before she slashed off one of its hind legs. Her blonde partner copied her and did the same to another one. It screeched in pain as it lost two more of its legs. 3 down, 5 to go.

The two helping them out came over, both panting slightly from all the physical exertion. "So... What's the plan?" The blonde boy asked and looked around the group. Ruby shrugged and looked towards both of the black haired pistol wielders. Ren shrugged slightly as well, causing them all to look over at the bow girl.

She sighed and looked over at the Widowmaker, gaining a thoughtful look on her face. "We need to... No, we need you," She pointed at Ren, "and I to provide cover fire at the Widowmaker's eyes. If we can take out enough of its eyes it won't be able to prevent these two," She motioned to Ruby and the blonde boy. "and if all goes well, then this plan should work. It usually does, so don't be held back by any apprehension." They all nodded and broke apart to do their duties.

Ren and their impromptu leader back off, their weapons in gun form and trained their barrels at the spider's face. They began to fire towards the eyes, Ren's automatic fire doing better than her semi-automatic fire. Ruby and the knight themed boy rushed forwards after a few seconds, prepared to take off more of its legs. They nodded at each other and went off to either side of the arachnid. Her eyes narrowed in on a leg, and she sped forward with her semblance. Thankfully, the beast was distracted from the cover fire, and she was able to slice off the fourth leg. She rushed back to avoid another strike from the powerful Grimm.

She looked over at the blue eyed boy, seeing him take off another leg and block off a strike with his shield. She nodded appreciatively at the boy and ran back into the fray, hoping to take off another leg. The Widowmaker was writhing in pain, meaning their job was getting easier and easier. She let a smirk form on her face. They were gonna beat a powerful Grimm! It only had three legs left, and it was already having trouble standing up. She rushed forward, pushing her semblance to its limits. She yelled out as she swung her scythe forward, continuing forward even after cutting off of one. She narrowed her eyes to block out the wind, her legs straining under the use of her semblance. Despite the burning sensation in her muscles, she pushed onwards, and cut off one of the last two legs as the blonde boy did the same. The spider fell down with a pained screech.

Without any of its legs, it was defenseless, and lacked most of its eyesight thanks to the cover fire. Ruby fell on her knees and attempted to catch her breath. The blonde boy she was working with went to the front of the Widowmaker and jabbed his sword down through its skull with a sickening 'squelch'. Ren came over to her and helped her up, slinging one of her arms around his shoulders. He smiled encouragingly at her and nodded in appreciation. She returned the smile and gave him a thumbs up as the other two members of their sudden team joined them.

The bow clad girl looked around before looking at them two. "You two did well." She gave them a small smile, her partner grinning with a chuckle.

"Yeah, I know we did. Red and I kicked ass, didn't we?" They all looked at him blankly, his partner deadpanning. He slowly shrunk back, looking more than a little sheepish. "Uh... Right, anyway! We should probably uh... Help out the others-" He was cut off by the sudden intrusion of a very messy Nora and Weiss, who was literally being dragged at the sleeve by the excitable girl. Nora and her were also covered in head to toe in black goo, in what could only be from some nasty part of the Grimm.

"Neeevermind." Nora grinned, looking quite disgusting with all the guts and stuff on her. "So we should probably head back to the cliff then?" They each nodded, including Pyrrha and Yang who just walked in, the blonde girl glaring daggers at the gothic girl all the while.

* * *

 **Hello all! Here's chapter 4 for al of you. Noticeably longer than the other chapters, too. 6.1k words! I might post longer chapters at the cost of longer between posting periods.**

 **Anyways, not much to say. for the Halo side of things. Chief finally made contact with some hunters-in-training, and kicked their asses (mostly due to them being, well, Team CRDL).**

 **But for the RWBYverse, I decided to change up the teams for this. I'm thinking Team BRRJ (Barrage) for Ruby's, lead by Blake, and team WYNN (Win) for Yang's, lead by Weiss. Mostly did this for the sake of doing something different, plus I noticed a severe lack of Ren playing an important part in stories. So what better way to make someone important than make them the partner of one of the main characters?**

 **And sorry for not showing WYNN's fight, I didn't feel the need to drag this out any longer. Plus I got a little lazy, won't lie.**

 **Please favorite, follow, and review! Negative or positive is appreciated!**

 **Until next time.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Guest: _"a spartan can run around 62 mph_**

 ** _MC can run at 65.2 mph but his Achilles tendon was torn because of the strain put on his body. a normal bullet is around 1,700 mph but we time and again dodgin them. even the weak hunters in training can dodge, evade and deflect bullets._**

 ** _base on this fact there is no logical way for MC to be able to fight a hunter and win base on their speed, aura, semblance, even if it's a hunter in training."_**

 **Now I wanted to respond to this via PM, but, y'know, guest and all. So I'll have to do it here.**

 **In the show it shows huntsman and huntsman-in-training dodging and deflecting bullets, yes. However, SPARTAN-IIs have a reaction time of 0.020 (with the fastest normal human reaction time going to Usain Bolt at 0.165), and the reaction time is amplified if the SPARTAN has an AI. Now, Chief doesn't have Cortana at this point, so we'll be using the reaction time of 0.020. This is fast enough to dodge a 9mm Glock at a minimum distance of 7.5 meters (it'd be 3m if he had an AI if anyone is curious), meaning they're hella fast when dodging. SPARTANs can dodge professional boxer punches at a distance of 16 centimeters, and 27.6cm for an extremely good one. To boot, an average SPARTAN can dodge an MA5C Assault Rifle at a distance of 18.1 meters. So, now that we've settled how Chief can dodge some hunters and huntresses' strikes, lets cover the abilities.**

 **SPARTANs are augmented _heavily:_**

 **Carbide Ceramic Ossification: Advanced material grafting onto skeletal structures to make bones virtually unbreakable.**

 **Muscular Enhancement Injections: Protein complex is injected intramuscularly to increase tissue density and decrease lactase recovery time.**

 **Catalytic Thyroid Implant: Platinum pellet containing human growth hormone catalyst is implanted in the thyroid to boost growth of skeletal and muscle tissues.**

 **Occipital Capillary Reversal: Submergence and boosted blood vessel flow beneath the rods and cones of the subjects retina. Produces a marked visual perception increase.**

 **Superconducting Fibrification of Neural Dendrites: Alteration of bioelectrical nerve transduction to shielded electronic transduction. 300% increase in subject reflexes. Anecdotal evidence o marked increase in intelligence, memory, and creativity.**

 **SPARTAN-IIs can only go around 34.2 mph inside the MJOLNIR Mk. IV armor, with Kelly having gone 38.5 mph. Chief went 65.2 mph in the testing of Mk. V.**

 **SPARTAN-IIs are capable of lifting three times their body weight, and that number is increased by a factor of five with the armor on. Meaning he can lift 15x his bodyweight inside the armor. Chief weighs around 290 lbs, so he can theoretically lift up to 4350 pounds inside the armor.**

 **Now, again, a SPARTAN-II's react time is around 20 milliseconds. Hella quick.**

 **Aura and Semblences can do a lot of these, but not all. Yang has the strength down, for example, and is quick enough to dodge Dust rounds (which, going by feats alone, are much slower than gunpowder rounds). Ruby is much quicker than a SPARTAN, and has the reflexes of one, but lacks the strength and indestructible bone structure. Huntsmen are more powerful (again going by feats) but lack the lethality and intense training of a SPARTAN. It'd be a good fight no matter what. Plus, this is an AU, and I gotta underpower and overpower some people to make it interesting.**

 **Sorry for the long A/N, I just had to address that.**

* * *

 _[Unknown Location]_

Cinder Fall was an extraordinary woman in every respect. She was beautiful, cunning, powerful, rich, sexy, and, above all, fearsome. She could strike fear into anyone's heart, even if they were the coldest son of a bitch to ever walk the face of Remnant. She's defeated many powerful people, including one of the legendary Seasonal Maidens, and came out unscathed. She had earned everything she has, her terrifying reputation included. Hell, it was one of the reasons she gained control over Roman Torchwick, The White Fang, and multiple other crime syndicates, as well as some legal forces such as Haven.

But despite all her attributes, there was one very _big_ flaw she had. When she got mad, she got _mad._ Due to her possessing half the powers of the Fall Maiden, she tended to gain a _fiery_ rage, and that spelled doom for any of her workers in her vicinity,

Like right now. The amber eyed beauty was very, _very_ pissed. Why? Well, she learned of some setbacks to her plan due to some inside operatives in Vacuo. What could piss her off this much, though? Well…

Humanity. Namely, Earth's humanity, has stumbled on this world. And she would be fine if it was the Insurrection, those idiots couldn't do a damn thing to her. No, it was a force much more powerful and, if she were being honest, terrifying. The United Nation Space Command. They somehow learned about the planet and decided to pay a visit.

Upon learning of their arrival (which was quite soon after they landed, thankfully) she quickly acted. She had some of her spies in Beacon plant a small virus inside the CCT to block any connection going outside the atmosphere. Since no one on Remnant had the technology to do so, that effect wasn't noticed by anyone but the UNSC. And, since they're in such small numbers, they won't be able to take down the CCT without starting another war. And, since they're already in two other wars (with the Insurrectionists and the alien alliance called the Covenant), they couldn't afford to fight on a third field, no matter how easy it would be normally.

But this isn't what was pissing her off, no. It was what came _with_ the UNSC that made her so livid. SPARTAN-IIs. Super soldiers capable of taking out entire forces of the enemy. While Cinder was confident she could take on any SPARTAN single handedly, she worried about the consequences of doing so. Anyone capable of killing a SPARTAN demanded the UNSC's immediate wrath.

So, yes. Cinder was angry. Very much so. Her plans were finally coming into fruition, then these _assholes_ come in with their holier-than-thou attitudes and threaten to put a stop to her plans. She sent word to Salem about them, but has yet to receive any orders back.

The ashen haired woman took a deep breath to calm down and looked around the room. Lots and lots of burnt stuff. Curtains, rugs, her chair, and a lot of White Fang soldiers. She frowned and shook her head. They'd have to increase the recruitment process if these bouts of anger keep happening. She stepped over every dead body and went over to her, thankfully (and a bit curiously), unharmed scroll. She turned it on and swiped through the pictures once again. They were terrible quality, but they showed a decent enough picture on what the UNSC is doing. There was a small base set up near the border of Vacuo and Vale, holding a few dozen troops. The Intel stated there were around two teams of Orbital Drop Shock Troopers, but the rest were the run of the mill marines.

She let a sadistic smirk show on her face as she brushed her hair back with a hand. She got angry over nothing. Sure, there was a SPARTAN team, but that was the worst of it. The UNSC base wasn't even worth attacking; it'd just waste her resources. The Grimm would take care of it soon enough. She chuckled lowly and set her scroll down. Things were still going her way. Who knows? Maybe she could sway those super soldiers on her side in the end. She'll give it a shot, and if they choose the wrong choice, she'll just make them wish they accepted before she ends them.

Everything was still going according to plan. With that satisfying thought in mind, she sauntered out of the destroyed room. She needed to come into contact with these SPARTANs, after all.

* * *

The leader of Blue Team was used to waking up in bland looking rooms. Specifically of the gray and white variant. What he wasn't used to, though, was the chains around his arms - luckily still armored - and his legs wrapped in the same chains. He squirmed a little after realizing this, but made no effort to get free. That Glynda woman was smart, she would have made these just as strong, if not stronger, than the wooden rope from before.

He silently cursed himself. He's never been taken as a POW before, and he never thought he would be. He would rather die, after all. Seems this planet is just full of surprises for the young SPARTAN. The Blue leader grunted as he looked at the one way mirror, glaring at it with eyes as cold as space itself. He knew people were behind there, there always was.

As if to prove his speculation, an old man with a cane walked in. He had the craziest gray hair John's ever seen, brown eyes, and wore glasses. John continued to study him until he got to the table and spoke.

"Would you like some coffee?" The man asked, but received no answer in return. Taking this as a 'yes', he poured another glass of coffee. Chief was so engrossed in his thoughts he didn't even notice that was there the entire time. He scolded himself for not noticing it, despite its lack of importance. "I've heard some very interesting things about you, 117." The man looked at the number on his breastplate before looking him in the visor. "Specifically how you took out four of my hunters-in-training. The newly named team CRDL will be alright, however, but that hardly excuses your actions. Tell me, why did you attack them?"

More silence. John would be damned if he gave even a slice of information to the man in front of him. He gave off the same air that Glynda did, pure unrestrained danger. Although he was clearly the kinder of the two, he was definitely higher up than her.

The old man hummed and sipped his drink. "We'll never get anywhere if you don't answer our questions. Who are you?" Chief glared at him, although the effect was ruined due to the visor blocking his face. "Fine. I suppose I'll tell you who we are, then I expect you to return the same courtesy. My name is Ozpin. I am the headmaster of Beacon Academy." Headmaster? So this guy is the CO? He grunted, sitting up slightly straighter from the information.

"... Master Chief Petty Officer, Sierra-117 of the United Nations Space Command." He decided to, once again, play nice, just as he did for Glynda. Chief was suspecting something weird was going on. New recruits mention something about an academy, then the blonde haired woman mentioned the same thing, and now this guy? The adults could be excused; They'd have had time to perfect such a lie. But those four kids? No way would they already have that discipline trained into them. If this Ozpin reacted smugly or angry at the news, then he'd know it was a lie, but if not… Chief didn't know.

"... United Nations Space Command?" His voice indicated his confusion, as well as wonder. "I've never heard of that. In fact, I'm positive that there is no such thing as a 'United Nations Space Command' purely on the fact that we can't even reach space." His voice sounded accusatory, as though he suspected the SPARTAN of lying. Dozens of questions ran through his mind, namely what this man's game is.

The SPARTAN remained silent, waiting for the man to give out more information. Ozpin sighed, taking the bait, and sipped his coffee once again. "You see, Sierra-117, Dust doesn't have the right properties to get us to space. We've tried. It just doesn't work outside our atmosphere. So whatever lie you're telling stops here. Tell us the truth, and we'll let you go."

Dust? What the hell is Dust? Chief observed the man to see if he was lying or not, but couldn't for the life of him find a single shred of dishonesty there. "... What's Dust?" Might as well gather more information before making the final judgement. Captain deGreene did say this was an Insurrectionist world, after all, so better to play safe than sorry.

"Sorry?" Came the incredulous reply of the headmaster.

"What is this 'Dust' thing you're talking about?"

A hum. A sip. A glance towards the one way mirror. A sigh. "Dust is energy. It's a weapon. It's the very thing keeping the Grimm out of our Kingdoms. It is what our daily lives revolve around. It, in its very essence, is life."

Now Chief was _very_ confused. "... Show me some then. Prove Dust is real." This was his last ditch effort. If they don't bring it out, then he knows they're lying. If they do… Then their intel was wrong, and these people aren't their enemies. John didn't know which one he wanted. They either wasted their time and got soldiers killed on this planet for nothing, or the Insurrection managed to capture a SPARTAN-II and has been experimenting illegally on animals.

Ozpin raised an eyebrow at the giant of a man and hummed. "How do I know you aren't planning on using the Dust to escape?" The SPARTAN grunted and looked at the chains surrounding his frame.

"I don't think brown dirt can get me out of this." His sarcastic reply got a small smirk from Ozpin. The gray haired man nodded towards the mirror, and the woman from before, Glynda, walked in with a scowl on her face. She set a small jar of… Blue sand? on the table. She whispered something about 'lightning dust' to Ozpin, and something about 'being electrocuted even if he tries to escape'. Whatever was in this jar, Chief didn't feel comfortable trying to use it to leave anymore.

The headmaster nodded his thanks and looked over at the SPARTAN. "I don't know why you're so insistent on seeing dust, but this is refined lightning dust. We use it for electricity." He tapped the jar, sliding it forward so John could see it better. "It's been refined by the Schnee Dust Company, a company based in Atlas. I'm not sure why you act to not know what Dust is, but if it gets you to answer our questions, then I'll give you an entire lecture on it myself." The green soldier stared at the dust, then at the green man.

"Show me." Ozpin raised an eyebrow at the demand, then hummed.

He took a minute to think over his answer, until he sighed and opened the jar. He sprinkled a very tiny amount onto his palm and held it out for the super soldier to see. "You just put a little bit of aura into the Dust." The particles suddenly began glowing, before small streaks of lightning burst forth from them. Chief tensed at the sight, and looked over at Ozpin with eyes wide behind the visor.

"How is that possible?" He mentally winced at how much confusion was in his voice. He hadn't heard himself sound like that since he was a child.

"How? Simple. Humans and Faunus have the ability to use Aura, the power of our souls, to do many incredible things. Using Dust to this level, for instance, is one of the many uses of Aura."

Chief's mind was, currently, a big mess of confusion and disbelief. Aura? Power of the soul? What? He couldn't deny that _something_ was here, but something like that? You might as well come out and say 'Hey everyone! I'm a freakin' wizard!' The leader of Blue Team took a deep breath, as if hoping to absorb the information just as easy as the air, and let it out in a sigh. "I don't even know if what you're saying is true. I've never heard of something as ridiculous as this. What you're basically saying is that magic exists."

Ozpin nodded. "That's exactly what I'm saying. You should know this. After all, someone of your caliber certainly has to have some form of hunter training." The soldier scowled, shaking his head.

"That's another thing. You keep mentioning hunters, what do you mean?" Brown eyes opened up slightly wider for a split second, before returning to their normal size. He hummed and sipped his coffee in thought.

"..." Ozpin nodded to himself before standing up and walking towards the door. "Glynda, be a dear and release this man. Send him to my office after you give him a run down of all the rules. You mat keep his hands bound if he tries to do anything he'd regret. And as for you," He looked over at the SPARTAN as he opened the door. "Please don't cause a mess in my school. The students are already stressed enough as it is." With that, he exited the room, leaving a confused John alone with an irate Glynda.

* * *

"So what you're saying is... Your scythe is a gun?" Ruby nodded and grinned at her blonde teammate - Jaune - who asked the question. After they got back to their dorm room from their first day of classes, she decided to finally strike up a conversation with the guy, since they fought well together. She started by doing the only thing she knew how... Showing off. Specifically her beautiful weapon.

"Yep! It fires 12.7x99mm rounds at a max rate of 3 rounds per second, but that's only because of my semblance. It has enough power to pierce half a foot of steel from a hundred meters away, and can pierce an entire foot of it from 20 meters! Although the power makes the recoil difficult to manage... But I usually use the recoil to boost myself at my enemies, just in case the rifle part of my baby isn't effective. That's when I slice 'em up!" She grinned even wider, to the point that Jaune contemplated the girl's sanity. It didn't help that the terrifying serrated blade was out, either. Why had she made it serrated again...?

He must've asked that out loud, because she answered. "I did that to help cut into the tough hides and bone of Grimm. I originally had a sharpened blade, but that had more difficulty cutting up the tougher, older Grimm. So I sacrificed some slicing power on the smaller ones to kill the bigger ones." She shrugged and transformed it into its storage mode before placing it in the special compartment on her back. "What about you? What's your sword do?"

Jaune grinned and brandished Crocea Mors proudly. He held it up for her to see it better. "This is Crocea Mors, a family heirloom passed down from the generations since my great grandfather used it in the war. It... Doesn't have any other forms, but its blade never rusts or dulls." He them pulled out the sheath, which turned into a shield. "And this is the sheath and shield combo. It holds my sword and defends my body. It can never be pierced, or at least, I haven't encountered anything that can pierce it." He put it back up and sheathed his sword.

Ruby hummed and stroked her chin as she looked at the weapon on his hip. "I see..." She nodded and crossed her arms. "Classics are cool. Underappreciated, really. Sometimes, simplicity is best." She grinned at him, with him returning the gesture. "Anyways, where are Blake and Ren?" She looked around their dorm, it being empty besides them.

"Pretty sure they went to the library. Something about Port giving us homework, or something."

"... Crap. We totally forgot the homework, didn't we?"

"Yep."

The two sat there in silence for a few seconds before dashing out of the room, both pushing each other in attempt at getting ahead. Except, well, Jaune didn't consider Ruby's speed, and was knocked back from the sheer force of her dash. "Damn you, Ruby Rose! I will have my vengeance!" His yelling got quieter and quieter as Ruby ran, her snickering being heard throughout the halls. She looked behind her and saw no one there, causing her to grin wider and let out a 'whoop' in victory. That grin was replaced with a grimace, however, as she ran straight into a _very_ hard wall. Since when did Beacon have metal walls, anyway?

She groaned and rubbed her head as she laid, sprawled out on the floor."Ow... Who the hell put that wall there?" She cracked open an eye and looked at what she ran to. She saw a big wall of green, black, and a small portion of orange, and then proceeded to freeze halfway of getting up. She didn't run into a wall... She ran into the coolest looking robot ever!

She jumped up and stared in awe at the machine before her, her mouth and eyes wide open. "By Monty... This _has_ to be the coolest robot I've ever seen..." She looked it over, her mind taking in every aspect of it. It looked so... Human, it was kinda scary. It easily stood almost three heads taller than her, and was probably twice as wide. Its armor probably contributed to that, she thought. Although that did make her confused. Why would a robot need armor? And what's with the body suit on it? And, to boot, if she stared hard enough she swore she saw its chest rising and falling as though it were breathing. Although that could just be the gears turning inside.

"Are you alright?" The deepest voice she's ever heard asked. She looked around and only saw the robot standing there. She spotted Miss Goodwitch a few yards back, scolding some students for doing something they weren't supposed to.

"Eh? Could've sworn I heard someone..."

"Are you alright?" It asked again. She slowly looked over at the robot, her face paler than usual. "You hit me pretty hard. Are you hurt?" She gulped and licked her suddenly dry lips.

"I'm... I'm..." She cleared her throat and shook her head, shrugging up at the tall machine. "I'm fine. Just shocked. I could've sworn there weren't any robots as advanced as yourself... Pretty sure I would've read about it in one of my weekly mags..."

The robot tilted its head ever so slightly, as though it was confused. _Pfft, please. Robots don't get confused Ruby!_

"I'm not a robot." The thing said. She froze once again, eyes wide.

"You're not?" She suddenly snapped her fingers with a gasp. "I understand now! You must be _sentient! Oh my God that's so cool!_ " The smart robot tilted its head once again, once again confused.

"... I think you're misunderstanding." It sighed - _this robot is the coolest shit ever_ Ruby thought - and shook its head. "Anyways, I have to head to your CO's - I mean, headmaster's - office." He walked past her, his metal boots clanking against the floor as Professor Goodwitch came up next to him. She nodded at the Gothic girl with a small scowl on her face. Ruby shivered and waved, hoping not to gain the witch's ire from having talked to the robot.

She breathed out a small sigh of relief as she kept on walking, but then grinned slightly. _She_ met a sentient robot. Qrow is gonna be _so_ jealous.

* * *

 **Hello once again! Not my best chapter, but I had a bit of writer's block for this part of the story. If it comes to something like this again, I'll probably just do a small time skip and have something explain what happened over said skip.**

 **Not much went on this chapter, and I'm sorry about that. :P I didn't have a lot of time to write so I didn't want to start something big and take a while to finish it. Think of this chapter as a filler of sorts, I suppose. On the bright side, next chapter should be when the story actually gets started.**

 **As always, favorite, follow, and review! Negative and positive feedback is welcome and appreciated!**

 **Until next time.**


	6. Chapter 6

[Master Chief Petty Officer/Sierra-117/John]

[7th of September, 2528]

[Beacon Academy]

Chief walked through the currently empty hallways of the school, but he wasn't truly there. His mind was off in another place, thinking about the last week he spent here, and what he had learned.

After his initial meeting/interrogation with the headmaster, Ozpin, he was taken to his office. Which was interesting in and of itself, seeing as there were gears in the roof and floor, blocked by only was only accesible through the sole elevator, assuming the exterior was built in a manner that the actual tower couldn't be climbed, and that had left the Spartan on edge. It didn't look safe, but he assumed it was, otherwise it wouldn't be the way it was.

Once there, he was given another chance to answer the older man's questions, which he did and didn't. He answered who he was, the basics of the UNSC (he couldn't release too much info, for a multitude of reasons, the biggest being his loyalty and the consequences he'd face were he to give out sensitive information), and he talked about his team.

In return, Ozpin explained Dust, Huntsmen, Aura, and a very shortened version of this world's history. After the long meeting and info-exchange, the giant SPARTAN realized that the Intel they had received was either wrong, or a ploy to spread their defenses. Or both, which made the 17 year old super soldier scowl. He didn't even think to pin the blame on the people of this world. He already accepted that they weren't lying and that they were, in fact, an independent sect. of humanity. How they got here, John didn't know, nor did he care. All that mattered was getting rid of that damn interfering signal and warn the UNSC.

Except, well… Ozpin talked about the CCT, or Cross-Continental Transmit system, and what exactly it is. It was their version of the internet and the main way they communicate between kingdoms. Primitive, if Chief had an opinion on it, but that's to be expected when one lacked the fossil fuels to launch satellites. But, if what Ozpin said is correct (and he didn't doubt for a second that it was) then that was the interfering signal.

Meaning they couldn't get rid of it to contact the UNSC without starting conflict with the planet. And John was very sure the UNSC wouldn't appreciate being thrust into another war, even if it would be easy to put down. It would be a waste of resources and time. Resources and time they could use against the Covenant.

Chief needed to find another way to contact the Last Haven. He highly doubted the world's leaders would allow him to destroy a tower just to make a call to his superiors. This got him even more agitated, because it meant he came all the way here for nothing. He might have lost his team for absolutely nothing! The SPARTAN leader doubted his team would go down so easily, even if they ran out of ammo, but he couldn't help but worry about their wellbeing. Who wouldn't in his situation? They were his family. They were his responsibility. They were the reason he fought.

He shook those thoughts out of his mind and focused on the meeting with Ozpin. Dust, their source of energy and, logic be damned, magic. He didn't understand how Dust worked, no one really did, but he was definitely planning on bringing back a sample for Halsey. If harnessed properly, and had that whole 'doesn't-work-outside-the-atmosphere' problem, it could prove extremely beneficial in their efforts against the Covenant.

Then there was Aura. John didn't know how he felt about this one. It granted an individual, in what he felt would be Kelly's words, "superpowers". Increased strength, speed, healing, and even a shield to reduce the sharpness of blades or penetrative powers of guns. It seemed surreal to John, and it reminded him a little bit of the augmentation process of the SPARTAN-IIs, which caused his mixed feelings on the whole Aura idea. Ozpin explained that, with enough training and dedication, one could unlock the power of the soul, a 'semblance'. The unique ability granted on the user of Aura that defines their very existence. He found it unlikely and more fiction than anything, until he elaborated on Glynda's semblance of telekinesis. It explained quite a lot of the SPARTAN, like how she threw boulders easily thrice her size with such precision and speed.

And how she made a rope out of tree branches.

He shivered involuntarily at the prospects of an ability like that on an Elite. Not a pretty image.

He thought onto the next topic, Huntsmen. They used Dust and Aura to its fullest extent to defend humanity against the forces of Grimm - which he learned were those black animals he and his team have been fighting since they got here. He found this to be the most promising aspect of the conversation. These Huntsmen, or hunters and huntresses, were very powerful individuals. They were basically the SPARTANs of this world, just more plentiful and less disciplined. He realized the UNSC could definitely use such powerful people, and it made him a little giddy at the aspect. Anything that can help humanity is always welcome, after all.

Then the final topic they covered, Remnant's history. It was very vague and a little strange, John admitted. It speaks of humanity coming from dust thousands of years ago (eerily identical to the biblical tales of Adam and Eve, he added), and that the Grimm came shortly after with the sole purpose of wiping out humanity. It then went on to mention how humanity found Dust while on the brink of extinction, and used it to push back the forces of Grimm. Ozpin then went on to label the four kingdoms and their basic history, like who founded them and the simplified version of their early politics. He then explained the origin of the Faunus, which were animal-human hybrids. He said that Atlesian and Mistralian scientists teamed up to mix genetics of animals and humans after experiencing how the Grimm didn't target wildlife.

To be frank, it failed miserably, the scientists were put to death for inhumane testing, and the Faunus were forever regarded as lesser beings and discriminated against heavily. John nodded at that part, as he had expected it. Humanity wasn't very kind to new races, but he supposed that was true for any race, if the Covenant, who didn't even like the other species in their radical group, were anything to go by.

Ozpin continued and caught him up to current day struggles. Including the White Fang, the Schnee Dust Company, the four academies, Atlas' advanced military (which caused John to mentally scoff, the only thing they had over the UNSC was their use for robots, which they could easily do if they desired), and their time of peace.

He was brought back into reality as he heard some yelling coming from in front of him. He looked up and blinked in a little bit of surprise. When did he get in the mess hall? He saw a bunch of the students here looking at him in awe, fear, and indifference. He shrugged it off and looked around. Seriously, when did he get here? He must have stumbled in when he was lost in his thoughts. He mentally chided himself for that. He was a soldier, he should always have his guard up in unknown territory.

He felt a finger poke his chest plate, causing him to look in front of him. More appropriately, down in front of him. He saw a white haired girl - white hair? Why does everyone have exotic hairstyles here? - with a scar down her left eye. "Can I help you?" His voice caused her to recoil slightly, but she quickly hid it up with an impressive level of self-control.

"As a matter of act, you may. By moving." Her voice reminded him of Linda in a way. Cold, but with an underlying level of warmth that one would never catch. The thought made his heart ache briefly. He really needed to find his team.

"Sorry," He moved out of the way with a quiet grunt. He heard her huff and walk by him. Out of sight, out of mind. He scanned the mess hall once again and saw the girl he ran into on his first day here. The small red themed one with an obsession on him being a robot. He saw a blonde haired boy next to her, looking extremely awkward, along with a black haired boy - with a pink stripe? - next to him. His gaze fell on a bow clad girl who looked downright murderous. For a second, he tensed, thinking her glare was directed at him. But quickly realized it was beside him, at the back of the white haired girl who just walked past him. He hummed and looked at the other three residents. An orange haired girl, a bright red head who looked like she belonged in ancient Rome, and another blonde, this time a girl. A hidden eyebrow raised at the sight of the seven, clearly unique, students.

He pushed back a groan as he saw the small redhead notice him and wave at him. He resisted the urge to smack his helmet with his hand, and instead cocked his head towards her. Hopefully she'd just accept that as a greeting and move on with her life.

… It wasn't meant to be, as she appeared extremely quickly in front of him with a trail of rose petals behind her. His muscles tensed so fast it nearly hurt, and he stepped back in preparation for a fight. Instead of a fist or a bullet, he was met with a childish grin and a wave. "Hello large robot guy!"

This time he really did slap the front of his helmet. He grumbled his response, "For the last time, I'm not a robot." She ignored him and grabbed his wrist. She tugged on him, probably thinking she could drag him, but didn't take into account his weight. She grunted as she was pulled back, much to John's silent amusement. He didn't have much experience dealing with civilian children, so this was certainly a new experience for the super soldier.

"... You could have just asked for me to follow you, you know." No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't keep out the small sliver of amusement in his voice. The girl stuck out her bottom lip with a blush on her face. He raised an eyebrow at the strange girl, but shrugged it off to her weird behavior.

"Fiiiiine… Follow me!" She started walking again, this time John letting her 'drag' him. He didn't know why he was letting her, but it definitely had something to do with distracting himself from his team. He could also use this opportunity to learn more about Huntsmen, he rationalized. And, if all went well, he could get their help to track down his team.

"Guys! This is the robot I was talking about!" Five of the seven greeted him, most of them calm or at least awkward. The orange head though… He was glad his helmet blocked out loud noises. The blonde girl and bow girl didn't even notice his presence. The blonde one just glared at his shorter Gothic theme companion. The black haired girl just stood up, announced her departure, and left. Strange group…

He nodded at them as he stepped aside to get out of the black themed girl's way. He saw the blonde boy get up and follow her, worry etched on his face. He watched them leave but shrugged, focusing back on the group in front of him.

"He doesn't talk much. All he really says is 'I'm not a robot'," she deepened her voice to imitate him. He'll give her credit, she was pretty good at imitations. Well, for a girl with the voice that was polar opposite of his.

"Probably because it's true," he added. He shrugged at the looks he got, sighing quietly. Why'd he come here again? He wasn't even remotely decent at conversations that didn't involve missions, weapons, tactics, or other military related topics. Kelly or Fred were usually the ones to do that.

The taller redhead simply raised an eyebrow at him, her eyes scanning his figure. Smart. He complimented mentally. Always observe someone new. You never know if they're the enemy or not. Plus, it never hurts to know what your ally is capable of, either. "If you're not a robot, why do you look like… That?" He grunted and looked back at her.

"It's armor," was his short reply. The girl hummed but eventually nodded, accepting his answer. The blonde girl (who finally noticed him), on the other hand, raised an eyebrow with a slight smirk.

"Then why not take off that helmet and show us what ya look like?" He was immediately put off by her tone. Teasing, seductive, and amused were the best words to describe it. It reminded him of some of the female marines in the gym, when they saw him outside of armor. It always made him uncomfortable…

"Can't. My face is classified." The girl only grinned wider and popped a french fry in her mouth, a mischievous glint in her lilac eyes.

"Oh? Classified by who, soldier?" The seductive tone of her voice was stronger than ever, and John had to force himself not to leave the mess hall right then and there. This girl was going to be difficult to handle for sure…

"Classified," his rough tone replied. Better squash any… unwanted thoughts running through this girl's head before they grew. She'd be disappointed to find out his libido was practically non-existent. T'was a side effect to the augmentations, after all.

Her damn grin only grew. She probably thought he was playing hard to get. "Mhm, sure. And I'm Glynda Goodwitch's daughter." John cocked his head in confusion. She had a daughter? It did explain the hair… But the personality? She might have gotten that from her dad, he rationalized.

"I didn't know she had a daughter." He confusedly replied. Wouldn't there be some prior evidence of this? He did spend almost an entire week around her and Ozpin, for safety measures. He learned a lot about the two of them, but nothing like this. As far as he was concerned, the two were practically virgins.

The blonde girl laughed, causing his eyes to narrow. The Gothic themed girl finally stepped in, thank God. "That's enough Yang." His eyebrow raised once again at the tone of the girl's voice. He's heard a lot of emotions in them, ranging from excited to embarrassed, but never hostile. There must be some major beef between these two…

"Tch." The now named 'Yang' scoffed and looked away, deciding the other side of the cafeteria was more worth her time than the girl. "Whatever, Rose."

Yep. Definitely some beef there. He briefly contemplated what it could be, before deciding he didn't really care. 'Rose' growled quietly and crossed her arms. She looked over at the black haired boy and waved him over. She then looked at him and nodded towards the doors of the mess hall. John shrugged, deciding to just go along with it. Rose's friend stood up and walked up to them, nodding at him, before they all walked out of the mess hall.

John was, admittedly, confused with what all just went down. The two teams seemed to have problems with one another. The black haired girl with the scarred one, and Rose with Yang. It made him wonder why they didn't get along, but decided it didn't matter in the long run. Petty relationship problems don't matter on the field; they'd get over it after a fire fight. No need for him to step in and fix it. Not that he could, he never had to settle any issues like that with the other SPARTANs. Usually, when something was wrong, they'd fight to get it out of their system. Then they'd be back to normal, like they were before. He hummed quietly as he tuned back into the conversation between his two new companions.

"And then my Uncle Qrow swooped in, tripped the Ursa Major, and cut off its face! All while drunk, might I add." … Okay, maybe he should have stayed in his thoughts. That sounded ridiculous. No way could someone function that well while intoxicated.

He decided to voice his opinion, but got two deadpan looks from his companions. Well, the boy always looked like that, but Rose? "... What?" His voice sounded more annoyed than he intended, which got him a mental scolding. He was losing his temper every day he couldn't find his team.

Rose let out a grin eerily similar to that Yang character. It unnerved him. "Are you doubting my story?" Chief raised an eyebrow and grunted, nodding silently. The grin grew, and thus, so did his uncomfortability. She giggled and pulled out her scroll. What was she going to do with that? His answer came up soon enough as she opened up a video file labelled 'Qrow's Drunken Moments'. The SPARTAN deadpanned behind his visor at the name. She had an entire file for this man? Talk about drunkard… Rose pulled up a video titled 'Ursa Major #13' and pressed play before handing him the scroll.

He took it and looked at the screen, half-expecting it to be fake, but was surprised to see an ashy haired man stumble around on the screen. John would be the first to admit the man didn't look dangerous, but if anything was true in this planet, looks can be deceiving. He was proven right when the man pulled out an impressive looking sword in his drunken stupor before cutting the bear's face clean off. It… Was actually very impressive, if he had to admit.

"... Oh." The girl grinned up at him again and took back her scroll.

"Told ya so!" He shook his head in amusement as she started telling another tale to her partner, who remained as stoic as he apparently always is. Chief tuned out the conversation and let his mind wander, his thoughts being on the same topic that's plagued him for a week.

* * *

Blake was furious. Not only did the Schnee talk bad about Faunus, she talked bad about the White Fang! As though her family wasn't the one to bring them to their current actions to begin with! Well, that was a bit of an exaggeration, but they were one of the main pieces that brought them down the path of violence. That brought him down that path. The thoughts of her old partner immediately dampened her anger, causing her to fall into a slight depression. She got to her team's dorm room and walked inside, letting out a soft sigh.

A couple minutes later she heard the door opening again, though she didn't look up from the book she was reading in the corner. Nor did she look up when she felt someone sit down beside her. Nor did she look up when a hand was placed on her book. Only did she look up when said hand put her book down. She was met with concerned, warm blue eyes - Unlike the cold blue eyes of that bitch Schnee, her mental self added - of her partner. She saw the worry in them and immediately felt guilty. It must have shown, because the worry on his face only grew.

"What's wrong, Blake?" She didn't realize she had been crying until his hand brushed her cheek, part of it coming back wet. She bit her lip and looked away. She let out a sigh a minute later, knowing he wouldn't be leaving until he got an answer.

"... I… I'm…" She sighed again, shaking her head. No way could she tell him the truth. How could she? That's right, she thought, you can't trust him. You don't know how he would react. He could hate faunus for all you know. He could hate you for all you know. The teeth clenching her lip pushed down harder, causing her to wince slightly. Luckily her aura prevented it from breaking, but it still hurt. "I had a… Friend. He was a faunus. He was… My best friend. He took me in while I was young and taught me everything I know. He was my best friend; my brother." Jaune nodded, showing that he was paying attention to her story. "He was so kind, energetic… Happy. We joined a… Club. The… Red Talon. It was a faunus only club, but his connections let me in. It was a fun club, a peaceful club at first. But slowly it… Changed." She sighed, rubbing her wrists to her eyes. Thankfully she had stopped crying. "And so did he. It became more dark, more violent. Eventually, he began to run the club. And with that power, he made it do a lot of bad things, Jaune… He had members kill anyone against it. Eventually, it became no better than a criminal organization. We mugged, stole, beat… Killed. We did it all, and I thought we were doing it for the faunus. I justified it with that excuse." She scowled, not caring any longer to hold back her emotions. "My friend wasn't doing it for that reason though. Sure, he claimed he was, but he was just doing it because he enjoyed it. He thrived off of it. It sickened me.

"But I couldn't leave. No, he'd have me killed. They'd beat me until I couldn't even twitch, then he'd have me killed. I've seen it happen before to deserters. The club was ruthless. It was just a terrorist organization that acted on violence in the name of equality. When in reality, it was superiority. My friend… He no longer wanted humans and faunus to be equals. No, he wanted faunus to rule. He wanted humanity to die off." She frowned, her eyebrows furrowing together in a deep scowl and she ran a hand through her hair, clearly angry about the tale. "He wanted mass genocide. After I realized that, I planned my escape. I left after we robbed a train of Dust, when he wanted to blow up the entire train with passengers inside. I couldn't do it anymore, Jaune. I was tired of it all. Of all the killing… The club was my life. And he killed it. And with it, everything I ever dreamed of." She felt a pair of arms wrap around her, causing her to tense up slightly, her irrational side telling her he hated her. That he was strangling her. She pushed that side away and hugged back, the tears flowing freely once again.

"It's okay Blake." His voice was soothing, completely different to the usual awkward or suave voice he usually had. It made her feel like everything really was okay, if only for a brief moment. "Whatever you did, it doesn't matter now. You left that 'club', it's behind you. You clearly came here to make a difference, and to amend for past sins. You're not that person anymore, and I don't care." He pulled back slightly, probably feeling a little smug at seeing her shocked expression. That bastard… "Although, I'm pretty sure your friend's contacts aren't what got you in that club." This got Blake to blink in confusion before she gasped, reaching a hand up to her head. Her heart stopped and her eyes widen when she didn't feel the bow. She looked around for it and saw it lying behind her. She quickly grabbed it and looked back at her partner, seeing him look amused at the situation.

Anger swelled up inside her, covering up her shock and fear. He was laughing at her! She felt tears once again sting her eyes, her face morphing into one of anger. He lost his look of amusement and immediately looked worried. Probably worried for himself. She growled mentally. She glared at him and tied her bow back on, her body language suggesting she was pissed.

"Blake? What's wrong?" He leaned in slightly, only to get slapped by his black haired partner.

"Don't act worried about me! I know what you're doing…" Her voice wavered despite her best efforts to sound strong. She pushed back a sniffle and settled with glaring at him again. "You… You humans always act like you pity us, when all you do is mock us!" His surprised expression brought a small sense of morbid satisfaction to her. She ignored it and continued on, "Every time you people see a faunus, you do nothing but ridicule them! And even if you don't, you do nothing when someone else does! You humans are all the same!" She was yelling by now, but she didn't care. Why did it matter? She wouldn't stay here after this. She had no reason to. Her team would hate her. So much for second chances…

She tried standing up, but was forced back down by two surprisingly strong pair of arms. She thrashed against them, thinking they were trying to hold her down so he could beat her. The tears now freely leaked from her eyes as she thrashed around, but she slowly stopped. She couldn't bring herself to care anymore. Everything she did always ended up in her being screwed. She went to the White Fang to make a difference, but ended up making things worse. She went to Beacon to make up for past mistakes, but ended up letting her secret loose after the first week. She just couldn't win, could she? She closed her eyes tight in preparation for the beating, only for nothing to come.

"You know, for how analytical you usually are, you sure did jump the gun really quick on this one." His voice held no humor, despite the joking tone the comment would usually hold. Instead, all there was was calm understanding. She opened her amber eyes to look into blue, confusion etched across her face. "I don't care if you're a faunus, Blake. Human, faunus, robot. Doesn't matter to me. You're Blake, I'm Jaune. We're not faunus or human, just us. Partners 'till the end." He gave her a soft grin and let go of her. She slowly sat up, looking shocked for the third time that night. She looked at her partner and wiped her eyes, slowly nodding.

"Yeah… Partners…" His grin grew wider and he held out a fist towards her, causing her to raise an eyebrow. He noticed this and nodded towards it. "Fist bump. Y'know, to seal our friendship."

"... Dork." She smiled softly and bumped his fist with her's, causing his grin to turn into a smile.

* * *

"So... A city, huh?" Questioned the current Blue Team leader, Fred, as he sat next to Linda, who was currently looking through the scope of Nornfang. She nodded with a grunt of confirmation, making the male frown in thought.

"Think it's held by the Insurrection?" Linda hummed quietly at the question, pondering it. There wasn't any noticeable Insurrectionist activity... Nor was there any technology that could confirm it as Insurrectionist. It made her frown herself in thought. If it wasn't Insurrection or UNSC, what was it?

"I don't know. We'll have to go down there to find out," she replied. She looked over at Fred and saw him motion Kelly over. The girl lived up to her reputation and appeared by his side almost instantly. She focused back on her scope and looked over the city, trying to find out any crucial information.

"Kelly, you'll need to get inside the city. Make sure to do it without being caught, so stick to alleyways or rooftops," said girl nodded and went back to the campsite, gathering whatever supplies she'll need for the trip. "As for you and I Linda, we'll scout from afar and be ready to back her up if anything happens." Linda nodded, putting away Nornfang as she stood up.

The sniper stared off into the city, her brows furrowed in thought. "Thinking the Chief might be somewhere in there?" The sudden question caught her off guard, mostly due to the fact that's exactly what she was thinking about. She nodded after composing herself, getting a hum from the male. "Yeah, that's what I'm thinking too. That's actually our objective, not scouting. I didn't tell Kelly because, well, she'd jump at the chance to help find him. We can't have her distracted." Linda nodded in agreement as she turned her gaze to the other girl of the team.

"We'll find him. Then we can get our asses off this planet." Her comment got a chuckle from Fred, causing Linda to give a small smile behind the visor. Despite the grim situation they found themselves in, he never found something not to laugh at. She envied it, but only slightly. She dealt better with serious situations than comedic, if she were being honest.

"Anyways, let's head out. Keep your comms up Kell, just in case you need help. We'll meet up here once all is said and done," they all nodded and split off to do their part of the mission.

Once Kelly was far away enough, Fred focused back on Linda. "I know I said we're sticking together, but we'd cover more ground if we split up. That alright with you?" Linda bit down a huff and settled with just nodding. "Alright. Same thing as before, we'll meet up here, and keep your comms on." With another nod, Linda walked off as she brandished Nornfang. Purely for familiar comfort than anything else, as she had run out of ammo for her precious sniper.

She trekked miles around the city within hours, constantly checking it through her scope for any sign of a 7'2" green man. Sadly, her efforts were for naught, as she came up without even the slightest hint of her team leader. She had even gotten close enough to the city that she could see individual people outside of her scope, but there was still no damn sign of John. It was almost enough to make her throw down her snipe in annoyance.

Well, that was an exaggeration, but she was irritated in all the wrong ways with this predicament. Linda thought back to when she zoomed in on a spiraling building a few miles west of their original start position. She thought to go there, but quickly shook her head. That place seemed important, and she doubted Chief would draw attention to himself by going there. Although she was starting to wish he had, because then it would be much easier to find the guy.

The redhead let out a sigh and once again looked through the scope of her Nornfang. She sweeped across the alleyways and streets, hoping to find something - anything - that would lend her a clue to John's whereabouts. Instead of finding the clue, however, she spotted a man with… Bright orange hair looking directly at her with a slight smirk. He seemed to be chatting with another person, smaller by the way he looked over every now and then, but she couldn't spot him. She cursed under her breath and quickly made to leave the scene, but was stopped by feeling something sharp on her neck. The mesh suit could block out blunt attacks easy, like bullets or fists, but knives or other sharp weapons? She cursed once again under her breath. How could she be so stupid as to get caught like this?

She turned her head to look at whoever had the blade to her neck, but stopped when the blade pressed against her a tad bit harder. She growled quietly, but kept still. She needed to plan this, not act irrationally. More than likely, it was an accomplice with that man down there. And, going off the looks of said man, they weren't soldiers. Thugs, maybe? That meant they didn't have any actual training, meaning she had the upper hand. Taking a deep, quiet breath as to not alarm the person with the blade, she spun on her heels and knocked away the… What? A parasol? She grunted as the umbrella came back and smashed into her side with a lot more force than a thug should have.

Linda kicked out towards the attacker, but was surprised when the very tiny girl twirled to the side and knocked her leg away. Who the Hell was this girl? She chewed on her cheek and backed away from the girl quickly to gain distance. Linda was possibly the worst SPARTAN on Blue Team at CQC, and this girl seemed to be at the very least adept at it. That put her at a serious disadvantage, especially since the girl had the reflexes of a SPARTAN…

The redhead spun out of the way of the tiny multi-colored hair girl's strike, and returned one of her own in the form of a backhanded fist. The midget smirked and ducked under the swing before she kicked Linda's stomach. She let out a quiet grunt, but smirked under her helmet at the look the smaller woman was sporting. Hah, teaches you to try and fight a SPARTAN in hand to hand. She thought as she lashed out with a couple more boxing-type punches. The girl weaved and dodged, but Linda didn't think on it. She had endurance on her side, meaning she could win this with a battle of attrition.

That is, until she felt an explosion hit her back and throw her forward. She grunted as she hit the ground, but quickly got back on her feet to avoid being skewered by the girl's parasol. When she got up, she saw the man with a bowler hat from before standing there with a cane. But no gun or explosive in sight on the man. Then where'd the explosion come from? She leaned back to avoid a kick from the smaller girl and blocked the man's cane with her armored forearm. She was surprised, however, when the tip of the cane opened up and another explosive shot out, hitting her helmet with the force of a car.

Linda once again flew back from the explosion, her dizzied mind shouting in confusion at what had just occurred. How the hell did a cane of all things shoot explosive projectiles? She groaned and sat up, holding her head in one of her hands with the other supporting her. She noticed the two were just standing in front of her, both with matching smirks on their face. Her eyebrows furrowed in annoyance, and she quickly sent a message to Fred to get his ass over here.

The man stepped forward and twirled his cane, his entire being just radiating with smugness. "Well, well, well. What do we have here?" He tipped his bowler hat mockingly. "I don't believe I've ever met a real life SPARTAN." Linda's muscles tensed with that announcement as she went to strike the man with her foot, but was stopped when the umbrella girl knocked her leg to the side. She growled loudly this time, making their smirks grow. "Now, don't be rude. We're just talking, you see? My boss adores you folk, and she would love nothing more than to meet one of you in real life. How about you make her happy and come with us? We'll be gentle." His smirk turned into a grin, causing Linda's blood to boil.

Linda pulled out a small standard M6C Magnum from her thigh and, gripping the barely, tossed it into the man's smug ass face. It hit him with a resounding 'thump' and caused him to fall back with a shout of pain. Linda let a small, satisfied grin form on her face. The orange haired asshole stood up, rubbing his face with an angry scowl as blood flowed down from his nose. The redhead's grin grew, realizing she broke his nose.

The grin disappeared as she felt something sharp stab into her gut, causing her to let out a gasp of pain. She gripped whatever decided to make its home in her gut and glared at the owner. The parasol girl had a scowl on her face, the only other emotion she's made other than mocking confidence. Linda gripped the parasol harder as she tried pulling it out, but barely made it budge. Sure, the girl was stronger than the average person, but she was still no match for a SPARTAN's strength. With both hands now gripping the umbrella, Linda slowly stood up to her full height, easily towering over both individuals. With a grunt of effort, she bent the parasol to a 90 degrees angle. The shocked face on the heterochromic girl was almost worth being stabbed.

Almost. She lashed out a punch to the girl, thankfully hitting her in her shocked face. Wrenching the weaponized umbrella out of her stomach, she bent it even more until a 'snap' resounded through the area. She threw the useless umbrella away and glared at the two, both of them glaring back with anger. Linda smirked behind her visor and got into a Wing Chun martial arts stance, prepared to take on either opponent. However, they both backed away despite their clear desire to continue, and eventually turned tail and ran. Linda made a move to run after them but was stopped by a hand laying on her shoulder.

She turned around, ready to attack, but relaxed when she saw it was Fred. She scowled and looked back at where the two ran. With a sigh, she grabbed her wound and chewed on her lip. Hopefully Fred had some biofoam…

* * *

 **Hello all! Sorry it took so long to update. I still don't have an update schedule, and I probably never really will with how hectic life is.**

 **Anyways, we finally see Chief interact with the main cast, most just shrug him off, others tease, and others are indifferent. Chief uses the excuse "Yeah, let's use some future super powered guys to help me, that'll be cool" and hangs with Ruby and Ren. It was the only logical reason I could find for him to actually go around with them without really breaking character.**

 **And there was that Jaune and Blake moment. I felt like a little fluff was needed, satisfy some of my readers who want some more of that stuff. Sorry if it didn't live up to your expectations, but it was my first attempt at writing anything like that. :P**

 **Plus, we finally we got back to Blue Team! About time, right? In all honesty, I just didn't write them for the past couple chapters because, well, I couldn't find a way how. It would get a little repetitive if I wrote them down surviving in Forever Falls. So, I just did a time skip to speed things up.**

 **I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and if you did, leave a favorite, follow, and/or a review! Positive and negative are welcome!**

 **Until next time.**


	7. Chapter 7

_[Master Chief Petty Officer/Sierra-117/John]_

 _[20th of September, 2528]_

 _[Beacon Academy]_

It started out as a normal day for John. Well, as normal as it can be when on an alien yet not alien planet consisting of super powered humans and another species called Faunus that fight off the very forces of darkness. So, not normal, but as normal as possible. He woke up, ate a quick breakfast (Beacon's food was the best he's ever had, although his experiences were extremely limited to UNSC cuisine and military rations), then decided to walk around the campus.

There, he found the few people he's become acquainted with, Ruby Rose, Lie Ren, and Yang Xiao Long with her partner, Pyrrha Nikos. They talked for a while (mostly to him, with him returning the bare minimal comment to keep the conversation flowing) before Pyrrha took off to take care of… Something. He didn't listen to that, he was too focused on Ruby's ecstatic chatter about his armor. But, that's where things went downhill…

Chief sighed deeply, the breath fogging up his visor ever so slightly, as he regarded his current predicament. Two girls, one tall and blonde while the other is short and redheaded, were practically at each other's throats for… Multiple reasons, apparently. All he could get from their incessant yelling was something about moms, leaving, and drunk uncles.

They've been doing it for the better part of the hour and it's only gotten more and more violent as time went on. Their voices raised, their muscles tensed, and their aura pouring out of their bodies in such quantities it was making John's instincts scream at him to act.

Yeah, he wasn't exactly having the time of his life currently. He never had to deal with family problems, so he was standing awkwardly to the side with Ren. Probably the only person he's met here who isn't insane, manipulative, or moody. For that, they got along well. Both quiet, mature males, who were more than content with standing off to the side while people dealt with their own problems, unless the situation called for their intervention.

Sadly, it looked like their intervention was exactly what this situation called for. Both men sighed and looked at each other, and, with another deep, resigned sigh, nodded to each other. "I get Yang, you get Ruby." Ren nodded and headed towards his partner while John stepped towards the fiery blonde.

He's heard of the girl's superhuman strength from Ruby, but he was positive he could hold her back thanks to his MJOLNIR armor. So, with confidence gained only from combat, he laid a hand on her shoulder and pulled her back, not noticing the strands of hair between his fingers from the action.

Only for his wrist to be grasped in a very powerful grip. John licked his suddenly dry lips but stood his ground, glaring into the young woman's red eyes with matching ferocity. He tightened his grip on her shoulder, his fingers digging pressing into her brown jacket. "Calm down. Whatever issue you two have can be settled _without_ fighting." The brawler's glare intensified as she looked at his hand, her aura spiking up a notch with flames licking his armor plating. He grunted in annoyance and tightened his grip as she did the same on his wrist.

"I said, _calm. Down._ " The only response he got was a shotgun blast to the chest combined with a punch, causing him to fly back into the wall of the academy. He groaned quietly and shook his head with a sigh. So, it's coming down to a fight anyways, huh? "Fine…" He stood up to his full height and stared down the clearly infuriated blonde. "Want to fight? Take it to the training area. I won't be held responsible for any damages caused to the building out here." Best to just let them fight it out, he supposed. No way was he going to fight her over something this petty.

He would be getting her back for damaging UNSC property though… This dent was going to be Hell to fix. Yang scoffed and glared even harder at him, causing him to raise an eyebrow. What did he do to get that reaction? He grunted and returned the glare with the intent to placate her or at least intimidate her enough to back off.

It didn't work. She growled and began walking - stomping was more appropriate, really - while fire spouted around her. Chief growled under his breath and reached for his assault rifle, only to grasp nothing. He looked back and growled quietly as he noticed it sticking into the wall behind him. He grunted in irritation as he reached for it, only to roll back quickly to avoid the fist of an angry blonde woman.

John didn't know what was up with this planet and angry blonde women, but he sure as hell was tired of it. He leaned back to avoid the follow-up and sighed in irritation before throwing a jab of his own towards her stomach. She batted his strike away, but was unable to do the same with his low kick. It connected, causing her to stumble and fall. John rolled away once again and stood up, grunting in irritation. "Stop right now, or I _will_ take you down. No promises that it won't end without a few broken bones on your part."

"Shut up!" She yelled out, throwing punch after punch at the SPARTAN. He tried blocking and dodging as best he could, but he couldn't avoid all of them. He grunted with each hit that connected, internally wincing at the girl's strength. Sure, Ruby said she was strong, but _damn._ This girl wasn't even human! Her strength rivalled a Hunters', just more precise. Meaning this fight was not going to end well for one of them.

He scowled beneath his visor and grabbed the next fist she threw before slamming his head against hers, then proceeding to throw her into the ground in her dazed state. He tried pinning her down, but, apparently, she wasn't going to take it lying down. She put her feet on his already dented chestplate and gave a mighty push, forcing the Master Chief to fly back a few meters.

He grunted as he landed and stared at the furious blonde incredulously. Seriously, how strong was this girl? There's no way could someone kick half a ton off their body and cause it to fly as far as he did. Well, except for SPARTANs, but they'd have to be in their armor to cause it to fly! He took a deep, calming breath as he scanned the surrounding area. If only he could get his assault rifle, then he could keep her back…

He leaned his body back just enough to avoid what would have been a very painful punch, but couldn't move in time to avoid the girl's other fist. It slammed into the side of his helmet, causing a crack to appear in his visor. "... You're damaging UNSC property. That's more than enough reason for me to restrain you and take you to jai-" He was cut off as Yang fired another shell at his chest, causing him to stumble backwards with a pained grunt. What the fuck was wrong with this girl?!

Chief, deciding enough was enough, launched a quick feint towards her face. Thankfully, she fell for it and went to intercept it, leaving her abdomen wide open for a roundhouse kick, which the SPARTAN delivered swiftly. He felt a sense of satisfaction at the contact as he saw her double over with a grunt of her own, before driving his other knee up into her face. He tried following up with a quick jab at her chest, however she recovered quick enough to block the strike. The glared at each other, one's red eyes glowing with fiery fury while the other's visor displaying cold contempt.

They were so focused on one another, they didn't even notice the two members of BRRJ leave the courtyard quickly (one very, very reluctantly, yelling out about how she 'wanted to see Chief's armor in a fight').

John sent a kick towards Yang's right side, whereas she sent a hard punch towards his left shoulder. Both hits connected, and both hits _hurt._ Neither were holding back anymore. Yang let go because she was pissed, whereas John let go because he wanted to end this as quickly as possible.

Sadly for the SPARTAN, Yang's aura and Semblance enhanced strength beat his own augmented power. With a mighty roar, the blonde haired fighter reached and grabbed the fist he was about to throw before flinging him across the courtyard. He flew at speeds he'd never imagined from someone's throw, shocking him just enough for him to be unable to land properly. Dust flew into the air as he landed with a loud 'thud', the ground shaking from the heavy weight practically slammed into it.

Shakily, John staggered up from the small crater formed from the impact, too dazed to avoid the punch thrown at him from the livid girl. His head snapped to the side, his visor once again cracking from the force of the hit. He groaned and shook his head, fighting off the new wave of nausea that threatened to explode from his stomach. He put his training to work and dodged the next punch she threw. He ducked under it, put his fists close to his chest, and threw a feint at her stomach.

He smirked slightly when she went to dodge it, and quickly threw his other fist at her unprotected face. His armored knuckles hit with a satisfying crack before he threw another one with the same hand. He managed two more hits before Yang's senses came back and she rolled out of the way. Blood spilled down from her nose, said nose bending in an unnatural direction. The soldier bounced foot to foot, his posture that of a boxer's. He took a little pride in breaking the nose of someone whose aura was still up, but didn't tell the pride take over. This girl seemed to get stronger after every hit, after all, so for all he knew, he just empowered her to do the same to him.

He was kind of regretting not just hitting a couple pressure points to knock her out now. With a grimace he slowly opened his hands, palms facing the girl. "How about we stop this before it gets more messy? I'm pretty sure a professor is one their way here now as we speak, so it would be be-" He was cut off (again) by a punch towards his head. His head tilted to the side instinctively, the fist barely grazing the damaged helmet. Even though it barely touched it, his visor cracked even more, causing his mouth to suddenly go dry.

… She was _pissed._ Maybe breaking her nose wasn't the smartest idea he's even made. He dashed back, keeping his eyes on his opponent all the while. Her hair was aflame, her eyes an intimidating shade of red, and her mouth pulled into a snarl. All in all, with the blood on her face and the low growl emitting from her, she looked like the very definition of deadly. Another grimace came to John's face as he realized his predicament. They weren't getting out of this without some serious injuries, were they? He sighed, weighing his options. More than likely, he could outrun her, but… Well, he wasn't a prideful person, but SPARTANs never ran. It was against their very beings. So that left either letting her beat the shit out of him or him beating the shit out of her. Or both.

He wasn't a fan of any option, really, especially since this was the most pointless fight he's ever been in. Yang ran towards him, her expression the very epitome of furious, with her fist cocked back. He got into a defensive position, his feet digging a few inches into the dirt with his arms ready to either catch or block the oncoming strike. Her fist lashed out, as did his hand, and they connected with a resounding 'bang'. The strike completely ruined his gauntlet, the metal breaking off into tiny pieces while some chunks dug into his flesh painfully. The superheated metal started cooking the flesh on his hand, and he wasn't the only one. The titanium seemed to have dug into Yang's arm as well, if the red marks on her arm were anything to go by.

That, however was the least of their concerns, as a cold, feminine voice spoke from the other side of the courtyard, her voice slicing through their mutual anger like a high powered laser through ice. "What on Remnant is going on here?!"

* * *

Most people know that if you put an immovable object in front of an unstoppable force you'll get complete and utter destruction. From this paradox, whole planets are obliterated. Entire stars wiped out like they were simple candle flames. Galaxies flickered out like a city from a blackout. Entire universes, gone in an instant from the infinite energy released from the infinitely powerful collision.

The scene in front of Glynda wasn't very different, much to her chagrin. Holes littered the courtyard and school walls, the fountain was nothing more than rubble, and the grass and gardens in the area were all, well, gone. Replaced by dirt. Hell, she was certain even the dirt was ground up a few times and was nothing more than a bunch of brown colored sand now.

The most noticeable part, however, is the two culprits standing in the center of it all. The 5'8" blonde huntress-in-training, Yang Xiao Long, was in a grapple with the 7'2" soldier, Sierra-117. Her anger spiked at seeing the two, and she stomped her way over there, a deadly scowl having formed on her face. She passed right through the crowd that had gathered to watch the fight, the students making way for her like she was the Creator himself.

Upon reaching the center edge of the crowd, she spoke up, her voice silencing every sound, be it human, bird, or action, in the vicinity. "What on Remnant is going on here?!" She noticed both fighters stop their power struggle, both postures giving away the fact they heard her voice. She stomped her way across the battlefield - _courtyard,_ she reminded herself - with her livid stomps being the only sound made. She saw Xiao Long's eyes wide and purple in fear, with 117's back straightening out in what she would assume is military instinct for the boy. She growled as she neared them, her knuckles white as she clenched her riding crop as tight as she could without snapping it. It was a very strong riding crop, to say the least.

They let go of each other's hand and faced her. One with his eyes forward and back straight, and the other copying him as best she could (it was actually pretty good, Glynda would admit to herself is she wasn't so furious). She glared at both of them with green slitted eyes, her teeth grinding against each other. "Why I… The audacity you two have for fighting in front of Beacon is outrageous! You!" She pointed to Xiao Long, the girl jumping a little while yelping in fear. "Have you no shame for fighting one of Beacon's guests?!"

"B-But he-" The younger blonde tried to defend herself, only to be cut off by the angry glare of Glynda.

"No buts! And you!" She pointed to Sierra-117, who responded only by somehow straightening his back even more. Any more of that, and he might bend over backwards… "You are a guest here! You don't just fight the students without permission from a professor or the headmaster! You're lucky Ozpin needs you, otherwise I would kick you out of this campus!" The soldier didn't react in any way, his back straight with his face facing forward. She wished she could see his face through that cracked visor of his; maybe get a clue as to what he's thinking. With a heavy and irritated sigh, the deputy headmistress gave the two one last glare. "Go to Ozpin's office. He'll punish you accordingly."

With that, she turned around, and strolled away, her hand still gripping her riding crop tightly.

* * *

Yang frowned as she trailed behind the not-so-jolly green giant, her previous grudge being long forgotten. With the anger gone, all she felt was guilt and irritation. Guilt for starting a fight over something so petty, and irritation that the soldier won't even look at her. Did he really hate her that much? The blonde teen let out a sigh and scratched the back of her neck, her lips quirking up. "Hey, 117... " She drawled out, waiting for him to pay attention to her.

After receiving a grunt, she perked up a little and jogged up next to him. She looked up to his cracked visor and fiddled with her thumbs in anxiety. "I just wanted to say, uh…" She sighed through her nose, causing her to wince in pain. Crap, she forgot about her broken nose… "Ow." She rubbed the area around it gingerly before shaking her head, looking over at the tall teen beside her, only to see her cracked reflection in his visor. She blinked and raised an eyebrow, noticing that he got closer than before.

"... Is your nose alright?" To anyone listening in, his voice gave away nothing, but she was certain it held a tiny shred of regret in it. Perks of fighting with someone, she supposed. She gave a shrug and a nervous laugh, waving off his concerns.

"This? It's nothin'! I had worse from my dad, really." She chuckled again, but her comment only seemed to worry the soldier more. Her chuckle died in her throat, leaving them in an awkward silence.

He let out a sigh, shaking his head. She could have sworn he said something about "this world" and "strange", but it was too quiet for her to be certain. "Sorry for breaking it." Yang gaped at the man, her mouth and eyes open wide in disbelief.

" _You're_ sorry?! _I'm_ the one who should be sorry! I… Kinda destroyed millions of credits of armor, and almost burned your arm off…" She rubbed the back of her head, looking away from the visor. She didn't like how guilty she looked. With a sigh, she shook her head. "It was stupid of me to fight you over something like my hair. I'm sorry." Once again, the silence came back. It stretched on for a minute, then two, then five, until Yang looked back forward towards 117. He was still looking at her, but his injured hand was held up towards her. Was he just proving her point, or what? She blinked, looking up towards his mask for answers.

"This happened because I acted like a soldier to a teenager. Because I'm not capable of handling personal issues like most people can. This happened because of both of us, not just you." He put his hand down, his other, still covered hand, reaching up in its stead. He grabbed his helmet and tugged it off, the damaged equipment being placed on a magnetic strip on his thigh. Yang's eyes widened at his appearance. She had imagined an older guy or maybe even a robot, not… _This._ Hell, if this was any other conversation, she probably would have purred out loud.

His head, where it was once cleanly shaved, was covered in small tufts of brown hair, about a centimeter in length. He stared into her lilac eyes with his striking blue ones, his eyebrows furrowed together in just the right way to complement his eyes. She saw multiple long healed scars, probably from blades or barely missed bullets or even fists. He sported a few new bruises and a busted lip, but it only made him look more rugged. Despite herself, she still licked her lips, but he luckily didn't seem to notice or care. "So stop guilt tripping yourself. A fight like that takes two people, not just one. We're both to blame, okay?" He held out his good hand, his eyes never leaving her's much to her secret enjoyment.

Without even the slightest hesitation, she nodded and grasped his hand, grinning widely at him all the while. "Okay, 117!" He nodded in acceptance and leaned back, to her vexation. She frowned a little but didn't let it show, and instead faced forward. "To the headmaster's office then, I guess." He nodded and they both started walking, neither noticing the pair of amber eyes following them.

* * *

Cinder smirked as she walked down the hallway in the opposite direction of the Spartan and Huntress-in-training. She smoothed out the wrinkles of her Beacon student uniform as she sautered down the hall, her symbolistic glass shoes clinking quietly against the floor all the while. Her golden eyes were narrowed in self-pleasure, her entire attitude radiating satisfaction.

She now knew how to beat one of those pesky SPARTANs without having to physically beat him. She could use the blonde haired bimbo to draw him in, and force him to her side. Whether or not it worked didn't matter; She would have her - Adam's - men surround him, ready to beat him down if necessary. Even then, she was more than powerful enough with half the Fall maiden's powers.

With a quick check, she slipped into a room and smirked at the green haired teen inside. Emerald Sustrai, a little attention whore-ish in Cinder's opinion, but she got the job done nonetheless. Such as just then, with masking her presence from the SPARTAN's radar. Even though the helmet was broken, she didn't want to risk anything. So, as a reward, Cinder ran her fingers across her pet's cheek with a proud smirk. "Well done, Emerald. You never disappoint." Like that, the dark skinned girl was putty in her hands. As always. Such loyalty was admirable, and she wished everyone was like her.

They will, though. Everyone in this damn school, the damn Kingdom, the damn _galaxy._ Cinder had no doubt in her mind about that, her mentor beat that out of her the minute she showed such apprehension. What used to be doubt was now the absolute knowledge of her destiny.

Cinder _would_ win this, no matter what. She was determined to do.

She had everything to gain and everything to lose, after all. Best to ensure she gained it all, after all.

* * *

Admiral Ezra Cole frowned when he saw the bane of his existence stroll in as though she owned the bridge. She very well could if she wanted, ONI adored her and wouldn't even think about not giving her what she needed. To this day, Ezra still didn't understand that. What was there to like about her? Sure, when she was younger she was strikingly beautiful, with shoulder length raven black hair and sea blue eyes that reminded him of Earth. Sure, she was the smartest human to ever grace humanity with her knowledge. And sure, she founded the project that damn well saved humanity's ass from both the Insurrection and the Covenant.

Despite all that, she was just a downright bitch. Arrogant, bossy, easy to anger, difficult to calm down, and extremely blunt. Beauty, as they say, is mostly important on the inside, and yet Catherine Halsey didn't have a shred of that beauty in her soul.

Ezra tugged at his collar and let loose a light sigh before nodding towards the opposing woman. "Evening, Catherine. To what do I owe this pleasant visit?" His tone was lighthearted, but there was an underlying tone of rancor that made his throat clench slightly. Let it never be said that Catherine Halsey was incapable of striking fear or worry into even the bravest men. Hell, this was the woman who even the mighty SPARTANs were fearful of. She may not have been a UNSC officer, but it was very true she held more sway than even some admirals.

"You know what I'm here for, Cole. I want my SPARTANs." Her clipped tone immediately squashed what little activity was going on around them. Ezra frowned and crossed his arms behind his back, his previous vivacious tone now replaced with the professionalism and staidness only an experienced admiral Like Ezra could have.

"Sorry to say, Halsey, but I don't have your SPARTANs. They've been shipped off to quell Insurrectionists on an outer rim planet, named Kepler-443j by the 22nd century Americans, but we just call it 'Residuum', for its broken moon. You'll get them back when they finish."

"And when was this?" Her face morphed into a deeper scowl, if that was even possible.

"Roughly 28 days ago. Give or take, with relativity and all that." His response got a harsher glare from the aging scientist. He shrugged back. "I don't control how long a mission takes, I just order it how and where to be done." She grunted and crossed her arms, her glare lessening ever so slightly.

"So how are they doing, then? Are they almost done?" Her question was left unanswered by Ezra's uncomfortable look. "What is it?"

"Well..." He sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "We haven't received word ever since we sent them there. Not a single peep. We were actually planning on sending someone over there to check on them, but..."

"But what, Admiral?" He glared at her commanding tone, but didn't act upon his irritation.

"But we've spotted the Insurrection's guard dogs. The four Horsemen are surrounding the planet, ensuring no one gets in or out unless authorized." Halsey gasped, her blue eyes widening at the mention of the infamous ships. "We believe they got there a few weeks ago, shortly after we sent Blue Team there." He frowned and chewed on his bottom lip. "Death and War are staying in defensive and offensive positions, respectively, while Pestilence and Famine are facing the planet. We fear they're going to unleash Juggernauts or, God forbid, the Titans on the planet, but we don't know why. Nor does it matter, because I sent a request for reinforcements to go and destroy those monsters once and for all."

Halsey furrowed her eyebrows, in thought rather than anger, and nodded. "Very well. Then I'll request to go with you. My SPARTANs could have damaged equipment that I can repair." Cole stared at her for a few moments before nodding with a sigh. Halsey smirked and nodded once more.

He pointed to one of the guards near the sliding doors. "Show Halsey to a guest room. Any room, it doesn't matter. You're to be her personal guard at all times and help her where she needs it. Understood?" The soldier saluted with a clear 'Aye aye sir!' before following the scientist out of the room. After the doors shut the admiral's face took on a grim appearance. "Ensign Jackson, where the Hell is Captain deGreene?"

"We don't know, sir. He was last seen in the docking room, but then he just... Disappeared." A frown marred the Ensign's face. "We've reviewed the video a dozen times, and all we see is he's there one second, then there's a red light and bam, he's gone like he was never there to begin with." Ezra sighed and rubbed at his forehead, his caramel eyes staring outside a window. "We've checked every inch of the ship, but we can't find him for the life of us. We also sent word around to keep an eye out for him, but no reports have made it back about his whereabouts."

"I see. Very well." Ezra sighed once again and crossed his arms behind his back, standing at his full height. "Patch me in to command. I need those reinforcements immediately so we can go save those SPARTANs before they're wiped out by Pestilence's Titans." The sound of Jackson's fingers touching the holoscreen sounded before the order was even finished being given. It made the admiral smirk, despite the situation. He felt damn lucky to have the finest spacemen and women aboard his vessel. Never once have they disappointed him.

He liked to think he hasn't disappointed them either, and he was motivated to never disappoint them. Especially not now. "Lieutenant Stonewall," said lieutenant looked over at him, "I need you, the ships emergency AI Lilith, and a few others of your choice to come up with a strategy on how to combat the Horsemen." Stonewall was a strategic genius, after all. Why she refused to be a higher rank was beyond him, but he was grateful she was on his ship serving with him. "Make sure its as bloody as possible on their side." He gave her a quick wink and grin, which she excitedly returned before heading off to do whatever it is brainiacs like her do.

"Sir, ONI is requesting a private server. Orders?" He nodded towards the dark skinned Ensign. "Connecting... Now." The lights immediately dimmed as four screens appeared on the window in front. Ezra stood at ease in front of it, his face betraying none of his thoughts.

"Admiral Cole, what is it you need?" A distorted voice said. Ezra mentally frowned, these people always had to be so secretive. The black figures on the screen, the distorted voices to ensure no one knew their genders, and numbers for names to seal the deal.

"I requested reinforces roughly a week ago and have received no word back. I was wondering if-"

"Request denied." The interruption was so abrupt it stopped the admiral in his tracks. His face showed surprise for a split second before going back to its neutral state, albeit with a slight scowl and frown.

"I'm sorry, but we can't take on the four Horsemen by ourselves-"

"You won't need to. You aren't going to Residuum. The Insurrection isn't our main concern right now, the Covenant is." His scowl deepened. He didn't care to disguise his displeasure anymore.

"There are four invaluable SPARTANs on that planet, sir. We must retrieve them before they get captured or killed." He held back a sigh of relief. It's about time they let him finish what he wanted to say.

"Request denied. Those SPARTANs aren't our priority right now, the Covenant is."

"You're kidding me. Without the SPARTANs, we don't have a chance against the Covenant!" Raising one's voice against ONI typically ended in very bad things happening, but Ezra was getting angrier and angrier with these fools. "Just send me a few battleships and we'll defeat the Horsemen and get back those men and women!"

"Request denied, Admiral. You want to save those SPARTANs so bad? Very well. But you will not be using any extra UNSC resources that are better off being used against a real issue. You may use your fleet and only your fleet. Any requests for extra resources will be denied. End conversation." The screen went blank and the lights brightened, but Ezra didn't notice. He was too busy glaring at where the four ONI representatives were. Those bastards!

"Orders, sir?" Jackson asked after a long silence stretched on. Ezra sighed and rubbed his temple gingerly. Honestly, damn headaches. He looked around and saw every crew member looking at him, holding the ultimate decision in his hands. He frowned, his stance relaxing until his arms laid by his sides. He looked at Jackson, to Winchester, to Huang, to Mikhailov, and at every other person in the room.

"..." He set his jaw firmly, his eyes hardening as he saw the resolve in every one of them. Pride swelled up in his gut and, with a deep breath, nodded towards Jackson. "Set a course for Kepler-443j. We will save those SPARTANs, we will destroy those damn ships, and we will shove a great big pole up ONI's ass when we do." He let a small smile form on his slightly wrinkled face as he heard a chorus of 'Hooyah!' from every present person. He nodded, his smile not leaving his face. "Thank you, all of you. If you don't want to take on this mission, you can leave now. I won't blame you, and neither will anyone else. This could very well end in disaster, and I understand wanting to live to fight another day." He waited for a few moments, waiting for someone to leave, but was pleasantly unsurprised to find no one moved an inch. "Then set course, Ensign. It's time we go save our savior's asses." With one last shout of 'Hooyah!' everyone got back to their stations, completely motivated to shove one up ONI's.

Admiral Ezra Cole walked off the bridge with a small, but proud, smile on his face. Logic told him this mission would likely end in his death, but his gut - and his men - told him otherwise. He knew without a doubt they'd make it through.

* * *

Fleet Admiral Isabelle Montez smirked as she stared out the port of her impressive ship, 'War'. One of the four Horsemen and her personal favorite, she made sure it was the most powerful ship in existence. She had even tested it out against the Covenant, and was pleased to see it annihilate them to nothing more than ashes. Outfitted with extremely high tech hard light cannons, used by an ancient species called 'Forerunners', it can tear through energy shields as though it were paper.

Of course, with her ship being an astonishing 36 kilometers long, it made sense as to the astounding power it holds. A smirk graced her lips as she thought about it. Not only was there a single ship of this power, but _four._ Of course, War was technically the strongest, but only because it was designed to dish out so much damage that it gave Pestilence and Famine their chance to destroy the enemy on the ground. Death was designed for large scale destruction, meaning She could wipe out entire fleets but lacked the ability to fight One on One properly. Of course, She could, as could all others, but they weren't as good at it as War.

War was best at fighting. Period. Death was best at annihilation. Pestilence was best at destroying ground forces via orbital biodegradation. Famine was best at absolutely destroying planets.

Each ship was 20-40 kilos long, and could take on fleets of UNSC ships alone. Of course, this stirred up confusion with the monkeys at ONI. 'How did they get these ships?' 'When did the Insurrection become so advanced?' And other answerless questions.

Answerless to them, at least. Montez knew entirely how. In fact, her source laid on the planet below them, hidden in the continent shaped like a dragon of old. Salem, as she went by. An ancient being, predating even the Forerunner, with more power than even these ships. Montez has only met her once, and the very presence of the pale being brought out primal, instinctual fear into her. It was... Eye opening, to say the least. She was a simple bug - no, germ, in the large scale of things. Immeasurable on the scale of power. A simple human with no outstanding abilities, not even aura or a semblance.

Originally, at least. She granted her these abilities and gave her power unlike any before her. Aura, a defensive and offensive ability that came from the consciousness, could be used to defend against any physical attack. It could also be used to enhance one's weapons, allowing them to do more damage. In essence, it created a field around one's body. Similar to water, in a way, as gentle prods like pokes or pats could easily bypass aura. But harder touches, like punches or kicks, would be protected against. Think of it in a way of a pool. You can step in and you'd go in easily. But if you fell from great heights, you might as well be landing on solid rock or metal.

But semblances, those were the true treat. A representation of one's very being, they could range from super speed to telekinesis, from illusions to conjuring fire, and even, in very rare cases, the ability to heal near fatal wounds. Everyone had one, but not everyone had it unlocked. In this case, 99% of humanity didn't have it unlocked, nor did they even know it existed. Trillions of humans, and only a fraction was aware of it. And only a fraction of that had it.

It was depressing, but it made having it all the sweeter. Montez wanted all of the Insurrection to have it, but Salem forbade it, saying it would lead to their downfall. Reluctantly, she agreed, but only when she offered her even more power.

Hence, the Four Horsemen.

She sighed in bliss as she rubbed the metallic hull of her beloved ship, her brown eyes having the look of pure ecstasy.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a meek looking boy come up to her with a datapad. She frowned in his direction, causing him to flinch, and snatched the pad away with a slight smirk. She _loved_ the fear she put into new recruits. It was just so _fun._ The admiral shook her head and looked down at the pad, her smirk turning into a bloodthirsty grin as she read the report.

Apparently, the UNSC were on their way to retrieve their lost puppies. She chuckled lowly. ' _Let them come,'_ she thought, ' _They won't stand a chance against my ships.'_ She tapped on the screen a few times before setting it down, a small hologram coming up of a woman with a red dress. "Hello Cinder, I have some good news."

Holo-Cinder smirked and moved her ashen colored hair behind her ear, a fine eyebrow curling up in curiosity. _"Oh? And what would that be, Isabelle?"_

"The UNSC is on their way here to get their pets back. Seems they miss them." Cinder and her shared a chuckle, the half Fall Maiden's smirk growing more at the news.

 _"Good. Plan B will begin when they get here. You know what to do."_ Montez nodded, her eyes shooting up to the port in front of her.

"Of course, ma'am. I won't let you down."

 _"I know you won't,"_ Montez knew that, were they meeting in person, Cinder would surely be caressing her as though she were a lover. It made her shiver from the mere thought. _"Oh, by the way, there's been a change in plans."_ Cinder's smirk became more menacing, causing Montez to raise an eyebrow of her own. _"Make sure you give them a good welcoming party when they get here. I believe Famine would be an ideal host, wouldn't you agree?"_ The young Insurrectionist fleet admiral smirked in a very similar fashion, her brown eyes alight with excitement.

"Of course, ma'am. Famine will ensure their party is as extravagant as they deserve." With a quick bow, Montez ended the call, her expression not changing in the slightest.

She couldn't wait to see the look of defeat on those UNSC pigs' faces.

* * *

Kelly, Linda, and Fred reunited back at the meeting spot after the entire event regarding the ice cream themed midget and bowler hat man ended. Linda wasn't hurt too bad, save for the stab wound, and would be fit to continue her search after a bit of rest. In the meantime, Kelly and Fred decided to watch the city from afar for any sign of their missing leader. Kelly apparently heard something about a 'green giant' found up in something called Beacon Academy, but it that was about all she heard before she had to leave lest she be spotted.

Fred stored away this bit of info for when Linda and he went out again. He still doesn't trust Kelly's judgement with this side mission yet. Better keep her to finding the Insurrection than the Chief. Fred, although he didn't learn anything about the whereabouts of John, did find something extremely interesting before he had to go save Linda's ass.

There was a communications tower, the 'CCT' they call it, which allows for communications across 'Kingdoms' (Fred assumed that was code-names for bases). He told Kelly about it, and she volunteered to investigate further into it. Probably thought that might be where Chief is, Fred assumed.

He mentally shrugged. So long as she followed the main objective, then he was okay with it.

"Okay, here's the plan. Linda, you'll stay here. Kelly will go investigate this CCT tower thing and, if it is the cause for our shitty service, destroy it. I'll go check out the other side of town and look for some rebel presence. Understood?" Both female SPARTANs nodded. "Good. Got any charges Kelly?"

"Yep. Have enough here to blow up an entire base if needed." She patted the pack at her side, giving a thumbs up with her other hand. Fred chuckled and nodded in satisfaction.

"Good. Now shoo, the sooner you get there, the sooner we can focus on finding the Chief." He added that last bit as motivation, knowing she'd hurry the hell up.

Which she did. Fred had no doubt that he wouldn't have seen her even leave if he blinked just then. He waited for a few seconds before looking over at Linda, nodding towards her. "Go to this Beacon Academy place. From the sounds of it, Chief is there. Remember to keep you comm on, and tell me when you find him. Don't come back until you scour that entire place, got it?" Linda nodded and stood up, her body most likely protesting. Fred frowned behind his visor, but didn't make to help her. That would hurt her more than that wound.

"Good luck. And don't get into anymore fights, alright? I don't wanna swoop in to save your ass a second time." He quickly dodged a punch that would have hit his helmet with a laugh, but ended up getting pushed by the smaller SPARTAN anyway. She waved at him, as though she were swatting away a bug, before heading off towards the tall tower in the distance.

Fred blew out a sigh while looking towards the city. He didn't tell anyone, but he saw something that made him doubt that this was an Insurrectionist held planet. Two guys in white and blue armor in front of the CCT tower.

Definitely not Insurrection, UNSC, or even Covenant. Local militia, possibly, but the Insurrection never had that if he remembered correctly. They stationed their military on every planet, asteroid, and moon they colonize. So with no apparent Insurrection, it's only logical to assume this is an uncharted world with an entirely forgotten history in UNSC records.

Meaning they are, in essence, aliens. Which made absolutely no sense. Fred sighed and resisted the urge to remove his helmet and rub his head to stave off the oncoming headache. He started walking towards the city slowly, his eyes scanning the edges for any sign that his assumptions were wrong. They weren't, of course, which only made his headache hurt more. The impromptu Blue Team leader stopped just outside one of the many run down shacks that made up the city's edge. He peaked around the corner and resisted the urge to sigh at what he saw.

A group of kids, about 7 or 8, playing soccer. But that wasn't the strange part, no. It was the damn animal parts on their heads and lower backs. Dog ears, cat tails, antlers, scales, and a myriad of other attributes covered the kids, making the SPARTAN want to leave the planet then and there. He shook his head and leaned back behind the wall, his mind racing a thousand miles an hour for an answer.

No way was UNSC intel wrong, it always lacked info but it was never this wrong. So why did Captain deGreene say this was an Insurrectionist held world? Why did he send them here, anyways? The Covenant were the bigger problem. He could have easily just forced them to wash the deck with their tongues if he wanted to punish them so bad. So why here? Why this place filled with apparently innocent humans and hybrids?

Why the lies, the deceit? All these questions were left unanswered, and it only angered Fred more. He needed to find Chief so they could high tail it back to HQ and leave this damn planet. Fuck the consequences, this wasn't anything they should have to deal with.

He scowled behind his visor and, with a deep breath, stepped out from behind the building and strode down the dirt path towards the kids. He was getting answers, no matter from who. His eyes sat on one of the older hybrids, the goalie from the looks of it. The kid's blue eyes found his and blinked in surprise before widening drastically. His dog ears stood up and he bent his knees, as though ready to run at a moments notice. Fred frowned, but slowed to a stop. He idly noticed all the other kids do similar actions to the dog boy. He held his hands up in front of him, hoping they would calm down.

"I'm not here to hurt you. I just have a few questions, is that alright?" His deep voice calmed the hybrid slightly, but he was still clearly on edge. The boy spoke to another in a different language, but slowly walked towards him, making sure to stop at a good distance away. It made Fred smile, even slightly. This kid already looks like he'd make good SPARTAN material. "Hey there, what's your name?" He spoke softly, not wanting to scare the boy away.

"Mikael. Are you with Atlas?" His accent strongly reminded him of Spaniards, but he paid it no mind.

"Atlas? No, I'm with the UNSC. Are you with this Atlas?" The boy - Mikael - cocked his head slightly in a way that enhanced his dog traits exponentially.

"No. What is this UNSC?" Fred resisted the urge to chuckle. This kid was supposed to answer his questions, not vice versa.

"I'll tell you, but first you have to answer my questions, deal?" Mikael nodded, his form still not relaxing entirely. Seems this kid has had his fair share of tussles.

"Okay, I have quite a few. Do you know what the Insurrection is?" With his confused look, Fred sighed quietly. "Okay. Then, who runs this planet?" Another confused look, causing Fred to frown. Does this kid know anything politically? He wouldn't blame him if he didn't, they are in the slums after all.

"Well... Humans, I guess. They run everything, from food and water to where we live." His reply only brought up more questions than it answered.

"You say that as though you're not human." Of course he wasn't, but Fred wasn't just going to outright ask what he was. He didn't want to be marked as a racist, speciesist - whatever - and get rid of his only source for answers.

"I'm a Faunus, there's a difference." The hostility in his voice made the armored man regret not just asking bluntly. Sigh, damn Halsey for not instilling proper conversation conduct in their education.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to offend." He held up his hands. "One last question, then I'll answer yours. Have you seen a big man, about my height, in armor similar to mine?" Mikael shook his head with a small frown on his face.

Fred sighed, nodding in acceptance. "Okay. Well, the UNSC is short for the United Nations Space Command. It originates from Earth, which is far away from here. Another world entirely." Mikael's face morphed into one of wonderment, and his body relaxed entirely. It gave Fred a pause and made him wonder if the kid never even thought about other worlds. "It's the military that protects all of humanity - and Faunus," He added quickly. "To ensure we survive against threats like the Insurrection and Covenant." He noticed other kids gathering around, causing him to bite back a sigh. Cute, but it was a waste of his time. "I'm technically a soldier - or marine, whatever you want to call it - of the Navy part of the UNSC, which is the biggest sect. But instead of soldier or marine, we're called Spartans. Named off of warriors of old from thousands of years ago. Before us, they were historically the best warriors to have ever exist. Well, that's if you take out guns." He chuckled.

"The UNSC is a very powerful military, and when I go back to them I'll make sure to have them come here to protect all of you too. Deal?" They all nodded, grinning in excitement at the aspect of space aliens. It made Fred mentally facepalm, feeling incredibly stupid for making that promise. He shrugged it off, however, as he felt giving them fuel for their imagination was a good payment for answers. "Anyways, I need to go. I have to find my friend. Thanks for the answers, Mikael." The dog boy waved as he began walking away before going back to play a game with his friends.

As Fred walked, he noticed adult Faunus stare at him in wary and, for some, outright hatred. It made him frown under his visor. Were humans here really that bad? He shook his head. It wasn't his problem. He needed to find John, reunite with Kelly and Linda, and get the Hell off this world.

He was suddenly stopped by a few men in masks and hoods - with weapons strapped to their sides, he noticed. One had a smirk on his face as he looked the SPARTAN over. "Well well boys, is this one of Atlas' new projects? I sure hope it is, I'm looking forward to beating the fuck outta something." His companions chuckled in agreement. Fred frowned and quickly analyzed the three.

Two males and one female. The one speaking to him was built like a tank, for normal people that is. Likely to be built around brute strength. Second male seems more lithe, possible agility based style. The female was average, likely a jack of all trades in this group. Lithe man and average woman wielded simple swords, from the looks of it, but the brute in front looked like he used a strange looking hammer.

Fred sighed, his helmet blocking the sound from the group. Everyone here was looking for a fight, weren't they? "I'm not looking for trouble. Back up and I'll be on my way." His voice momentarily stunned the group into silence. Then, the largest masked male sneered and jabbed a meaty finger into his breastplate.

"Listen here, you waltz in our territory and order us around? No way, man." He reached for his warhammer, causing Fred to tense up. As soon as his hand grazed the surface of the hilt, he lashed out, landing a hit square into his jaw. A crack was heard, but he paid it no heed. The large SPARTAN followed up with a roundhouse kick into his sternum, throwing the bulky man into the side of a warehouse.

Fred brandished his knife quick enough to block a strike from the thin man, but was tripped up by the woman. He bit back a curse as he rolled away from what would have been a painful meeting with the bottom of her boot. Perfect, she was adept in CQC.

He smirked as he stood up, holding the knife in front of him in a reverse grip. He beckoned them to come at him with his other hand, getting two angry growls in return as they sprinted at him. He raised his free arm up in a block for the woman's chop and moved his blade in front of the other's offending red one. With a grunt he pushed them back and slashed at their chests in one swift motion. To his immense surprise, there wasn't a single speck of blood coming from his attack, and it seemed that his slash only made them angrier. He scowled and jabbed towards the man's stomach, but was blocked by a kick to his wrist.

His knife flew out of his hand but he recovered quickly, grabbing the woman's ankle before slamming her into her friend's side. He kept swinging her around even after using her as a bat until he reached a good speed before letting her go, flinging her through the warehouse where her bulky leader wa- Wait, where was he?

The CQC specialist was answered by a flash of pain in his side, causing him to stumble. He grunted and whipped around, coming face to face with a face very reminiscent of a gorilla. He scowled and wrapped a hand around said face before throwing him back, his legs carrying himself back slightly for distance. He looked at the two men - who he assumed were both Faunus now - as they advance on him. He looked between them, chewing on his lip. He reached down for his side arm, but grabbed nothing but air. He looked down in shock, only to see a feline tail wrapped around his magnum's hilt pulling away. He growled but didn't advance on it, as he was pulled back into the fight by a red blade racing towards his visor. He leaned back before slamming his elbow into the smaller man's gut, grinning slightly as the body went limp on his arm.

Seeing the warhammer come at him, he moved the man's body in the way. He didn't flinch when the hammer connected to the unconscious man's spine with a crack, and he didn't flinch when he had the gorilla man's arm in his hand, nor did he flinch when he bent the arm in an unnatural angle. He didn't even flinch as he slammed his fist into the man's throat, closing his windpipe for good.

He only flinched when he heard an unnatural scream come from the female of the group. He turned towards her, but was met with the barrel of a gun in front of his mask. He quickly reached for it, but was stunned by the loud 'bang' of the magnum and the harsh bullet slamming into his visor. Cracks appeared on it as he stumbled back, but he recovered quickly enough. He reached for it again, but by the time he even moved a muscle the feline woman fired another two shots into his visor. More cracks appeared on his visor and he felt the trickle of blood flow down his head. He scowled, knowing that last bullet lodged itself in his visor and was currently pressing into his skull painfully.

With a grunt he jumped at her, managing to grab the barrel of the gun before another shot fired off.

His grip went slack, and his visor went black. The last thing he saw was the tear streaks rolling down amber eyes, and he immediately thought of a woman he'd long forgotten.

"Mom..."

Then nothingness.

* * *

"Ah, fuck." Were the elegant words of Lieutenant Stonewall. "You mean we gotta take on the Four Horsemen with nothing more than two Hyperion-class cruisers, a single Valiant-class cruiser, three Diligence-class destroyers, two Halberd-class destroyers, and like fifteen stealth ships of ranging classes? You bullshittin' me, admiral?"

Ezra sighed and shook his head, his face grim. "Sorry, but I'm a hundred percent serious. We have about 4 carriers, too, in case you've forgotten. All but one are Poseidon-class. The lone one is a Rocky-class supercarrier, too. Not enough to mount a major offensive against the Horsemen, though." Stonewall grunted and scratched her chin, his eyebrows furrowed in frustration and contemplation.

"Give me a few hours, I should have something that could count as a possible survival strategy. But it would require months of work to get a strategy even remotely resembling a winning plan against those fuckin' cunts." The graying man repressed a sigh, favoring instead to look outside the nearest port.

"Just try, okay? You're one of my best tacticians. I need you working on the plan. If you do, I'll even give you a damn raise. If you make a winning strategy, or at least one that gets us planetside, I'll give you _my_ damn salary. Deal?" The lieutenant was already up and out the door with a large grin on her face.

"You got yourself a deal, cap'n!" Her joyful laugh carried throughout the passageways, causing Ezra to crack a small smile.

Well, for a second. "It's admiral to you, woman!" He swore he heard her laugh louder before she went out of his earshot. He grumbled and stared out the port once again, his mind wandering.

Her words vocalized his worries ever since he left the safe orbit of Reach. How the Hell was he supposed to beat the infamous Horsemen that not even the Covenant could beat? Hell, he could barely fight back against a fleet of said alien radicals with this one. Chances weren't looking too good for him or his fleet. He thought about all the strategies he's learned over the years, all the game changing tactics that allowed him to not only beat back the Insurrection, but the Covenant as well. He narrowed them down, but quickly realized those didn't happen because of his own skill, but rather luck. Some could be attributed to his men and women, but most of them were on different ships or dead.

He pursed his lips and sighed quietly.

"What's the long face for, Admiral?" The aging voice of Catherine Halsey broke him out of his stupor. He looked over at her and immediately noticed that she looked years younger with the lighting. He quickly shot that out of his mind and instead put on a friendly face.

"I'm just planning, don't worry about me." She chuckled and sat down across from him, her hands holding a warm mug of coffee, he assumed.

"You're implying I was worried to begin with, Admiral. I was merely curious as to the cause of your disquietude." The smirk that tugged at her lips - which we lightly covered in light red lip gloss, Ezra idly noticed - was the only thing that let him know she was joking around.

He chuckled and leaned his arms on the table, his gaze playfully glaring back into hers. "That so, doctor? Well, my apologies for assuming then. Would you like me to enthrall you with an in depth version of my concerns?" Her blue eyes rolled in his direction, her smirk growing ever so slightly.

"Please, I'd rather watch engineers repair a battleship than hear your inner secrets." They both shared a chuckle, letting the small talk dissolve into comfortable silence.

Ezra stared into her bright blue eyes with his yellow-brown orbs, his small smile flipping into a slight frown. Her eyes sunk towards the dark brown color of her coffee, her lips pursed in a straight line rather than the teasing smirk she wore earlier. Ezra silently noticed the slight gray streaks in her black hair along with some crow feet at the edge of her eyes. He sighed quietly, leaning back into the metal seat.

"Are you happy with Keyes?" His question came out before even he could stop it, causing both of their eyes to widen. Halsey glared harshly at Ezra, causing him to look away in shame. "Sorry, I didn't mean to pry."

"Good. It's none of your business." He nodded, not wanting to risk angering her further. He silently cursed himself for his rash stupidity. He, a 44 year old man, acting like a damn hormonal teenager. It was almost laughable, if it didn't screw up his relationship with the woman across even more.

He sighed and stood up, tilting his hat towards the scientist with a quick 'Have a nice day', before leaving the secluded area of the mess hall. He started walking away, but was stopped by a hand gripping his wrist. He turned and found sky colored orbs staring deeply into his. "Find my SPARTANs, and I'll make it your business." Her statement caused Ezra to blink, before he chuckled softly.

"Is that a date?"

* * *

 _[Admiral Ezra Cole]_

 _[22nd of September, 2528]_

 _[Aboard the UNSC Winter's Wrath, above Remnant]_

The Four Horsemen were gigantic. Where his ship, the _Winter's Wrath_ , was a 1.7 kilometers long, their's ranged in the 20 kilometers to the 40 kilometers. Absolute monsters, and Ezra was suddenly realizing the futility of this mission. He frowned but stood still, his posture straight and confident. He had to appear stoic and brave in the face of these devils for his men and women.

"Ensign, how close until we're able to launch our nukes?" He didn't look over towards Jackson, instead focusing his entire attention on the foes ahead.

"A couple hundred thousand kilometers sir. By that time, we'll already be in their range however." The admiral frowned and nodded, humming quietly.

"Very well. Tell each ship to arm their MAC round and launch their Longswords, Broadswords, and Sabres. Prepare each Broadsword with nuclear capabilities for when they get close. Tell them to launch at 30 thousand kilometers." The dark skinned Ensign nodded and typed away on his holopad. "When we get within fifty thousand kilometers, I want all ships to prepare their anti-air cannons for any of Pestilence's bacteria fighters." More typing. "Within 20 thousand kilometers, everyone is to fire their MAC rounds at Death simultaneously. Within 10, order the Broadswords to fire their nukes. Tell all ships to back up after that, I don't want any casualties from our own nukes." It took a few more moments before Jackson finished and showed it to Ezra. He nodded, telling the Ensign to send it.

He sighed and looked over at Lieutenant Stonewall stoically. "You're sure this will work, Lieutenant?" She nodded, giving him a thumbs up but no grin. He frowned and stared out the front port, the underlying message clear as day.

 _'We'll lose a lot of people.'_

He took off his cap and ran a hand through his graying hair, frowning in the direction of the Horsemen. "Lilith," A green cube appeared on top of a podium next to him. "When we pass the Horsemen, I need you to locate the SPARTANs of Blue Team immediately." The cube shimmered before a young girl's voice spoke up.

"Understood, sir." Ezra nodded and pursed his lips, his teeth busy with chewing the inside of his cheek.

"70 thousand kilometers and closing, sir. We should reach 20 thousand kilometers within the minute." Jackson's voice rang out. The admiral placed his cap back on and secured it, his face morphing back into pure stoicism. "60..."

Seconds passed by like they were hours. A bead of sweat trickled down the side of Ezra's face, but he didn't move to wipe it away. "50. Loading the MAC round now."

He gulped and adjusted the collar of his uniform unconsciously. "40..."

"30..."

"Sir, firing the MAC round at Death now!" Streaks of white shone in the dark abyss of space as dozens of MAC rounds raced towards the 34 kilometer long monstrosity that was Death. _Winter's Wrath_ shook as she fired her own, but Ezra stood still, not giving any ground. He glared towards the opposing ships as though his stare was another MAC round.

"Closing in on 10, sir. The MAC round slowed out velocity to half its previous speed. We'll be reaching the 10 thousand kilometer point in half a minute." Jackson's voice broke the silence and Ezra nodded, humming quietly.

"Tell the other ships to load another MAC round." The Ensign gave a confused look in his direction. "Just do it, Ensign." Ezra barked at him, causing the officer to salute and get to it. Cole sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, watching in silent anticipation as the MAC rounds slammed into the thick hull of Death. He scoffed as the rounds barely dent the armor. He almost laughed - almost - at the hopelessness of the situation. He can't believe he wanted to take on these nearly indestructible ships.

"We're at 10 thousand now, sir. They're currently deploying their fighters, sir. They outnumber us 10 to 1." Jackson stated, his voice doing an excellent job of not shaking.

If they make it out of this, Ezra was definitely going to recommend a promotion for his unwavering bravery. "I want all anti-air cannons primed and ready for defense. I want all pilots in their fighters immediately. Get out there and beat back those rebel scum." He scowled, his arms crossed behind his back. "Let's see how powerful these Horsemen truly are."

* * *

 **Hello once again everyone! Yeah, so, it's been about over a month since I last updated. Why, you may be asking? Well, I lost motivation after a little while. I started writing the Yang vs. Chief scene and it just left me. I didn't know where I was going with the story.**

 **Then school came along and my senior year is extremely busy, so I had even less time to write.**

 **Luckily my good friend Saber016 helped me get some motivation back with his talk about the Four Horsemen. So naturally I asked if I could use them, Saber said yes, and here they are.**

 **Gonna be using them a _lot_ in the future. So get used to them. **

**Speaking of the Horsemen, there are indeed four, if you didn't read the name. That I stated multiple times.**

 **Yeah, four. 4.**

 **War, Death, Pestilence, and Famine.**

 **War is purely offensive and is the most powerful in terms of, well, offensive capabilities.**

 **Death is best for killing a lot at once. Be they ground forces or fleets.**

 **Pestilence is, well, pestilence. Releases Bacteria fighters, which is basically just their fighters.**

 **Famine is purely anti-ground forces. It releases the Titans (another one of Saber's inventions which I'll be using a lot (and nerfed a lot)).**

 **You also got to see Admiral Ezra Cole (no relations to admiral Preston Cole) and the Insurrectionist's Fleet Admiral Isabelle Montez. Hopefully you liked/disliked them, respectively. Or, hell, disliked/liked. Maybe purely liked or disliked? I don't care; They're sticking. Or not, if I kill them off.**

 **Speaking of that, Fred got fucked up. "Oh butt Astronomiae hes a spurtan u cayn't do that!1!" Shh, hold on. Let me explain.**

 **He was tired from weeks out in the wilderness fighting off the Grimm, his armor was already in a state of disrepair, and he was likely hungry and dehydrated from the lack of time to properly eat and drink. Not to even mention the feline Faunus has aura and channeled it into the magnum, increasing its power. So, it isn't far fetched to say she could take down an exhausted, worn down SPARTAN with a few good aura-enhanced shots.**

 **Whether he's dead or not, we'll have to see. I'm still deciding, lol.**

 **There was a lot of POV changes, but they were all necessary (save the Glynda one, I just wanted to write hers for some reason). I'll do that, if you can't tell. I enjoy writing different perspectives rather than one or a small group's.**

 **Anyways, that's all for now. Sorry for the long wait, and to show it I wrote 11 thousand damn words in a day. My fingers hurt and my wrists are killing me, but I did it for you guys.**

 **Please leave a review if you enjoyed! Follow and favorite too, just so other's can see the story! The more attention it gets, the more motivated I am to write. I know, I'm an attention whore, but its necessary for writing.**

 **Sorry not sorry.**

 **(*Quick little update that I forgot to add*) Updates will probably be like monthly like this one. Although the quality and length should increase, the amount of chapters released, well, won't. If I can get a chapter out sooner, I will, but for the likely future it will be more like this, if not worse. Only four weeks into my senior year in HS, and I know it's going to get busier, so y'know.**

 **Anyways! As I said review please! Any kind of review, be it encouragement, constructive criticism, or even hate is extremely appreciated! Feedback of all kinds help me grow as a writer and help my stories become better!**

 **Until next time.**


	8. Chapter 8

[Admiral Ezra Cole]

[22nd of September, 2528]

[Currently engaged for Battle of Residuum]

"I need reports now Ensign!" Admiral Ezra shouted at his preferred officer, Ensign Daniel Jackson. "What the Hell happened to Sun's Chariot?!"

Jackson gulped, his Adam's apple bobbing up and down from the movement. "War just... Atomized them, sir. Unknown weaponry is on that ship, meaning they got upgraded even further from last time."

His dark olive eyes looked into Ezra's peru colored ones. "All we know is a red beam shot out and hit the destroyer at the speed of light."

Ezra's face drained of color, his slightly tanned complexion turning a sickly shade of white. "Oh my God... But, how is that even possible...?" He looked outside the port, his gaze landing on the far away ship of War. Despite the small size from this distance, it looked absolutely ginormous to the aging admiral. As imposing as one of the bringers of the apocalypse themselves, it shook the man to his very core. He never understood how they achieved the technology to make these monstrous ships, but to be this advanced?

It was absurd, and he would have laughed had he not seen it. Hell, he was tempted to laugh right now, if only to release all this stress piling on him. He let out a slow, shaky breath and scowled, deciding to face this battle like any other, despite the obvious gap between his fleet and the four ships.

"We'll keep going with the original plan. We can't do much else if we want our men back."

A green cube appeared on top of a nearby pedestal, signifying Lilith's appearance in the conversation. "Admiral, I have deduced we have a 0.0278 percent chance of defeating the Horsemen, and a 4.78 percent chance of getting by them with minimum casualties."

Cole damn near shouted in frustration at the hopelessness of the situation, but somehow managed to keep a cool head. "How much is 'minimum', Lilith?" The cube shimmered for a second.

"Approximately 196 men, sir. Of course, that's assuming we sneak past, which is statistically unlikely given their advanced senso-"

"Take control of the ship, Lilith. Guide us past them, then tell all other ships to escape while they can." A few decided to voice their protest, but Ezra raised a hand to squash it. "We can do this on our own. I shouldn't have brought them here on such a hopeless mission. Our chances of sneaking by are better without more forces, anyways."

"The admiral is correct. With the absence of all other ships, our chances increase to a better 13.407 percent. An 8.627% increase." Lilith's high pitched voice helped calm the men, but they were still visibly worried about this plan. Ezra pursed his lip and rubbed his chin, staring deeply into the distant four ships.

"What's the best way to sneak past them, Lilith? What's the best chance we have?"

"Give me just a second, Admiral. I will find the best course to take to ensure a victorious deceit." Seconds went by in bated breath, everyone not working to actively defend the ship listening in. "A small group of pelicans, holding no more than 50 people, have a higher chance to sneak by. 56.9 percent chance of success. I suggest sending in Marines first, then send in all nonessential personnel. Doing this every few hours should bring the lowest amount of casualties."

Ezra sighed, severely wishing he had a pack of cigarettes right now. He didn't even smoke, God damn it. "Alright. We'll do it, but we'll be leaving the Winter's Wrath in the open, Lilith."

"I cannot find a probable plan that involves the ship not being destroyed and succeeding our mission, sir. The two are mutually exclusive, I'm afraid."

"Damn it all."

"What would you like to do, Admiral?" Lieutenant Stonewall's question penetrated his thoughts and he looked over at her, then the rest of his crew.

"... We'll follow Lilith's plan. Anyone who doesn't want to go can be transported over to the other ships when they leave the fight. This mission is near suicidal as it is, I don't expect all of you to follow through with an even crazier plan." Chatter erupted amid the officers, each one trying to decide what to do. He notice Jackson and Stonewall share a nod and move behind him, both giving him a salute.

"We're in, sir! We'd be honored to join this campaign to the very end!" Jackson's baritone voice spoke for the both of them, Stonewall's grin letting him know she agreed. He gave them both a curt nod and a small, appreciative smile. He noticed a few others get behind him - Commander Aidan, Ensign Zhou, Captain Julius, one of the guards, Sergeant Hollis, and more stood behind him. He looked across the hall and saw an equal amount of people saluting him, which he returned. "Very well. I expect to see each one of you ready to report for duty when we return." They all dropped their salute with a clear "Aye aye, sir!" before heading for the exit. Hot air exited his mouth after they left, and he looked over the group that decided to stay.

"Well, let's get to work ladies and gents. We have some rebel asses to show off." They all chuckled, some forcefully, and got back to their stations. Ezra looked over at the floating cube and stood in front of it. "As for you, you're leaving on the first ship out. We can't have you getting destroyed, can we?"

"Sir, with all due respect, my chances are best leaving with you," The artificial intelligence responded.

The commanding officer frowned, raising a graying eyebrow. "And why is that?"

"Simple, Admiral. Your luck."

* * *

The battle was going very well, if Montez had anything to say about it. So far, her ship had already destroyed four of their pitiful forces. All vaporized into nothing but atoms and molecules thanks to her hard light cannon. Much more powerful than anything the UNSC is capable of - or ever will be capable of. The dark skinned woman requested if she could annihilate their fleet, but was adamantly turned down by Cinder. Which upset the Insurrectionist leader, of course, but she knew wiser than to argue against Cinder.

She was, after all, a good and obedient tool for her and Salem's use. She was the sword that carried out their will, and she would be damned if she ever went against her commanders. She'd rather spit in the face of God himself than incur the wrath of both women. A smirk graced her youthful face as she stared at their largest ship (a pitiful 1.7 kilometers) called "The Winter's Wrath", which she was informed held the famous admiral, Ezra Cole. She heard he was the one coming from her spy, Nicholas deGreene. It pleased her to know her troops carried out their tasks with the utmost attention and loyalty.

She made sure to treat him quite well for it, too, if the earlier sounds from his room were any indication. Provide your men and women with money, men and/or women, and a reason to fight, and they're puddy in your hands, awaiting to be molded into useful pawns.

She only wished more listened to it instead of the "holier-than-thou" bull shit the United Nations Space Command spouted. It was enough to make her stomach twist in anger with just the mere thought of it. They promise safety and protection when they can't even protect their own against the "weak" rebels! She scoffed, her smirk getting an arrogant edge to it. The Horsemen sure showed them how "weak" they were. Hell, even the Covenant, a collection of alien races with superior numbers, technology, and physical attributes were proven weaker than the Insurrection.

The current display of firepower only further proved all these claims. She and the other admirals were decimating UNSC forces as though they were flies fighting against a mighty dragon of old. It was admirable, the way they jumped at the opportunity to die at her hands. Hell, it was downright adorable. She made sure to give them what they wanted.

She thought back to when they attempted to fire nuclear warheads at her lovely ship, but she immediately squashed that by using tractor fields to throw them off course. She thought about slinging them back, but didn't want to risk killing them all, so she just flung them towards the shattered moon.

Currently, though, she was preparing to let them slip through. Not a huge ship, no, but tiny numbers. The Queen virus deGreene implanted in "The Winter's Wrath" told her their plan, conjured up by the surprising appearance of an Ancilla - or an AI. She really needed to refrain from using that terminology around her men. Even mentally, it could escape in her vocalization at a moment's notice.

Ah, her thoughts strayed once again. They were planning on using pelicans to escape by, each group holding 50 people. She'd let them escape, of course, and she wouldn't even fire a single shot their way. Make them get arrogant while on the ground so her gorgeous Titans could crush their hope. It made her giddy in anticipation, but she calmed herself. Getting too excited now would just increase her impatience.

Cinder doesn't like impatience. So neither does Isabelle.

With a sigh, she looked over at her loyal, and ever present, guard, Commander Black. Also known as Mercury Black outside of his facade as an Insurrectionist officer. "Commander, please inform all cannons on sectors 17 through 65 not to fire at UNSC pelicans. Tell them it's a direct order and any kind of insubordination, questioning included, will be treated as treason." The silver haired boy huffed and smirked, nodding at her.

"Aye, ma'am." His lazy and bored voice, at first, got on her nerves, but she eventually accepted it and actually began to appreciate it. It was much more entertaining than the usual military drone's voice. Plus, his teasing never got old.

At least when it wasn't directed towards her. Not that it ever is.

"After that, I want you to get on the first ship to Vale. Cinder wants you, Emerald, and Neopolitan to infiltrate Beacon with her." He nodded once again and strolled away, his hands lazily stuffed in his pockets.

"Got ya, Lady Montez. See ya around then." He lifted a hand and waved it as he turned the corner, causing her to roll her eyes.

Okay, his lack of military conduct was still a slight peeve of hers, even if his sarcastic voice wasn't. Nonetheless, she smirked. Plan B was officially in action, and it would soon give way to the next and final part of the plan.

Complete and total domination of the Galaxy.

* * *

Completely unaware of the battle going on hundreds of kilometers above them, Jaune and Ren were currently chatting amicably with each other as they walked down the sidewalk towards the dormitory.

"And so, after I killed my first Ursa, my dad, Alexander Arc, smashed me into a tree and told me to do it again. Said I, and I quote, 'messed up that kill so many times it's only because of your stupidly large aura that you didn't die ten times over', end quote." The dark haired male just stared at the lighter themed boy with a deadpan expression.

"Your father... Abused you every time you messed up in the slightest?" His tone sounded monotone as always, but held a small tint of curiosity in it. It's hard not to be when you hear your only male teammate's parents beat him up for stupid reasons.

"Well, I wouldn't say abused... But yeah, pretty much." Jaune shrugged carelessly, his lips formed into a grin. "It made me the badass I am today, after all!" Everyone within a ten meter radius just stared at the blonde, causing him to shrink behind his teammate slightly. "Uh... Well, anyways, what about you? What did your dad do?"

Ren shrugged and looked back at Jaune, his magenta eyes boring deep into his blue ones. "I didn't have my dad train me. I learned on my own."

Well that was depressing. "Oh." Ren shrugged again and kept his leisurely pace.

"Don't worry, I've long accepted it. It doesn't bother me in the slightest."

"Well that's good! It's always a positive thing to-" He was not cut off by a girlish scream, nor did said girlish scream sound from him. It was a manly scream of manliness than came from a real man. That's what cut off his sentence.

Oh, and a large armored person with an extremely large sniper rifle slung across their back. That too. "Holy shi- Chief! You can't just sneak up on us like that!" He sighed out a deep breath, his hand holding onto the place where his heart was.

Only to find himself being picked up, courtesy of the giant. "You said Chief. What have you done with him?" He blinked at the voice, which he didn't recognize in the slightest. He expected the deep monotonous voice of the Master Chief, but instead got a rough female's voice. What the Hell was going on?

He saw Ren tense up beside him, and apparently so did the blue armored figure, who set her gaze on the ninja-like huntsman. "Don't. Move. I demand to know where he is." Jaune, with his senses returning to him after his - ahem - manly shock, starting swinging his legs around.

"Hey, stop manhandling me lady! If you let me down I'll just take you to him, damn!" The golden visor once again found his face and, after a moment of thought, slowly let him down. He sighed in relief and pat down his clothes, a scowl now on his face. "Geez, you giant armored people and your lack of social communication skills. You're just like Chief, except meaner and a woman."

With her growl, he chuckled and scratched the back of his head. "I-I mean, uh... Ren, help me out here!" He looked over to his companion, only to receive a head turn as an answer. "Traitorous bastard." He grumbled. "Fine, whatever! I'll take you to Chief on one condition." A gloved finger was held up in front of the strangers helmet.

"... What is it?" Her tone suggested it better be a damn good condition, otherwise the only condition he'll be receiving is a multitude of broken bones on his behalf.

"W-Well... What do you want with him?" Jaune suspected that if he could see her face, he would be receiving a glare and a raised eyebrow at the same time. It made him chuckle slightly at the image. She just looked so constipated.

"Tch. He's my team leader. Now take me to him, right now." She didn't seem to be amused at his idiotic chuckling, so he favored instead to shut his trap and nod furiously.

Ten minutes later, the group of three were wandering around the hallways of Beacon, looking for the lost SPARTAN.

"So, I can't help but notice you never told us your name." By 'us', Jaune really meant 'me'. Even in the face of a seven foot powerhouse of a woman, his attempts to flirt don't leave him.

"Classified. You'll address me as Sierra-058 or Petty Officer." Linda's curt response cause Jaune's bravado to falter, much to hers and Ren's silent amusement. The blonde sighed and scratched his head, grumbling something incoherent under his breath.

"... Well, actually," And somehow, someway, Jaune's flirtatious behavior survives even the cold demeanor of the Petty Officer. "Sierra is a pretty girly name, sounds cute too." He grinned and winked at the armor clad female.

"... You better close that shit hole of a mouth right now before I smash it in." The knight themed boy shut his mouth fast enough for his teeth to clack loudly. Ren rolled his eyes, Linda stayed focusing forward, and Jaune rubbed his poor mouth.

His look reminded her of a kicked puppy, but she didn't falter. She's seen sadder things than a damn puppy. "Where is he, civilian?" She growled out. Her patience was wearing thin. She was in the same damn vicinity as her team leader and she wanted to find him now.

Ren, the Asian boy who she actually didn't mind, decided to speak up for about the second time since they met. "He's likely around Ruby, my partner. She seems to be attached to him, and he seems to enjoy her company." Linda raised an eyebrow under her helmet. Chief, fraternizing with Insurrectionist civilians? Maybe she has the wrong guy here... No, she can't. Who else could the blonde idiot have meant when he shouted 'Chief' when he saw her? As far as she knew, there wasn't that many 7'2 men in MJOLNIR power armor who went by 'Chief' in the galaxy.

"Where would she be, then?"

"Likely the forge, the cafeteria, or with Blake, Jaune's partner." The redhead grunted and mulled over the options. Three options, three people, meaning they could search much quicker than if they stayed together. Except…

Linda sighed. "Where's the forge? I'll check there. Ren can check the cafeteria and Jaune will go scope out this Blake person." Ren told her where to find the forge and went on his way to wherever the cafeteria was. Jaune opened his mouth as if to say something but, wisely, decided against it and walked away on his own. With a sigh of relief, Linda headed towards the southern sector of the academy, where the forge was held. She didn't know why, but she just knew she'd find John in there. Call it a gut feeling, but she knew without a doubt.

She avoided any other students, she didn't want to be wrapped up in another situation like previously. In her defense, she wasn't expecting there to be students wandering about. She wasn't the most knowledgeable on schools, but as far as she knew, classes tended to be in session at three o'clock in the afternoon on Reach and a few other worlds.

She sighed, shaking her head. That was the first and last mistake she'd make while here. She was tired, grumpy, and couldn't shake the odd mixture of sadness and and excitement that raced through her when she got here. Almost as though she lost something, but just got something back she had long lost. Whatever it was, it just made her even grumpier.

Damn this planet.

After a few more minutes of walking/hiding, she finally got to her destination. The forge wasn't as medieval as she imagined. It looked quite modern, if a little bit futuristic with the white wall tiles and floating blue screens. She crept inside, thankful for the lack of occupants in the front, and blinked in minute surprise. Seemed it only looked modern on the outside; it was pretty damn medieval on the inside. Dark gray stones lined the floor, cracks going in every which direction. The walls were black - likely from all the smoke rising out of furnaces and burning fuel. Torches lined said wall, each one burning far brighter than they should. She shrugged it off to some of the Insurrectionist's crazy advanced tech they somehow get.

Although, what her eyes landed on next was much, much more important than anything she saw before. Hell, she could have seen a Prophet to the damn Covenant and she'd ignore the blasted thing in favor of what stood across the room.

He looked different than when she last saw him. His hair was longer, almost an inch long now, and he was sporting a small stubble. Which surprised her, he usually shaved off any hair that grew on his face. He didn't like it much. What surprised her more, though, was he was out of his armor. She took a few tentative steps forward, her eyebrows furrowed in confusion. Why would John ditch his armor and hang around a rebel girl? It made no sense to her, and she intended to get answers.

"John?" Her voice wavered slightly, and she silently cursed. The sharpshooter blamed her exhaustion, but she felt like it would have done that even if she were at 100%. His head snapped up and his sight practically flew to her, making her gasp quietly. His eyes were just as blue as she ever recalled, if not more so from all the black and red around.

"... Linda?" His deep voice made a wave of realization come over her. Before, it all seemed to surreal, but his voice brought her back to reality, all the emotions of relief washing over her. Before she realized it, she was embracing him, and he her. It was rare to see Spartans show such level of physical interaction that wasn't sparring, but the situation called for it.

Almost an entire month of being separated, without knowing if each other were alive and unable to do anything about it, tends to make even the coldest soldiers a bit touchy when they find the object of their tireless searching. "Where the Hell have you been, John?" She pulled back, the hug barely having lasted more than a few seconds, which was admittedly plenty of time for both super soldiers. "Fred, Kelly, and I have been searching for three damn weeks for you. You went into that forest and-and you didn't come back? What the Hell?" She felt like shouting, but knew it wasn't worth it. Whatever reason her leader had, it was definitely a good one. Or so she hoped.

John sighed through his nostrils, a small sign that she noticed only because of her time together with him. She furrowed her eyebrows and looked past him, noticing a... Very small girl. Probably around five foot, if not a little taller. Wait, did she... Linda nodded. "I see." Shit, she heard their names, didn't she? She sighed and looked around, and, thankfully, there was no one else around to have heard their conversation. "Ruby, I assume?"

The small girl squeaked - which was actually kind of cute, although Linda wouldn't dare admit it - and nodded. "Uh, y-yep! And you're uh, 117's teammate I assume?" Well, she recovers fast from her embarrassment. Cute and quick to adapt? More reason to be cautious of her, if the whole flirting with her team leader wasn't enough reason.

"You'd be right in that assumption." Linda's eyes flicker to the wicked scythe resting on a nearby table, and her face nearly conveyed shock if it weren't for her training. "... Wait, does that have a bolt action rifle mixed into it?" She nodded towards the scythe, which caused the girl to squeal - damn this girl and her damn oblivious cuteness - and start babbling on about it.

"Heck yeah! It's a high caliber sniper scythe! She fires a 20x139mm round, or at least that's what Jo- Chief calls it." She shrugged, as though firing that beast of a caliber wasn't anything special. "Has much more kick than my previous 12.7x99 round, that's for sure. That was only really good because of my aura, but this?" She grinned and held up the round, which with her small hands, look gigantic. Which they are, really.

This girl was quickly rising to the top of her 'be cautious of' list. And, admittedly, her 'people to talk to about weapons' list. Damn her very being. "... Did Chief make this?" She motioned towards the extremely deadly weapon that she was itching to look at. If she were a lesser woman, she probably would.

The petite goth girl grinned, her pearly white teeth taking on a proud edge. "Nope! It was mostly me, just Chief fixed up some of the parts." She pointed to the scythe's blade, "That, for example, used to be serrated. Chief pointed out that serrated blades are better for damaging tissue, but smooth and sharp blades worked better for quick, clean kills." She quirked her mouth and tapped her lips. "I originally thought it would work better serrated, but when we tried it against some practice dummies I realized that while it helped slow down my enemies better, it didn't kill them quite as quick. Which is probably why I figured ancient Grimm died faster from it, since it takes forever to kill them anyway." She shrugged and grinned at Linda, which said woman returned with a slight narrowing of her eyes.

"You made this?"

"Yep."

"And you're, what, fifteen?"

"Also yep."

"... Want to take a look at my sniper?" Ruby gasped and, for a second, had stars in her eyes. Linda swore she saw that, and she further narrowed her eyes.

This girl was everything she hated and loved in a single manifestation of flesh. "I'll let you look at it for a few minutes, I need to talk to Chief and contact our other teammates. If you so much as get a scratch on her, I swear to all things holy there will not be enough walls to protect you from a bullet to your head." The smaller redhead grinned and saluted, before reaching out for the modified sniper, which Linda hesitantly gave to her. As she went into full weapon geek mode, Linda sighed and turned towards a slightly amused John.

"What?" She snapped. The (currently) shorter man shrugged innocently.

"Nothing. What is it you needed to talk about?"

"To start, lot's of things. Namely, why are you out of your armor?"

To most, John's face remained stoically passive as it always was, however she saw a slight grimace in his eyes that told her something bad happened. "Would you believe me if I said a 17 year old super powered blonde girl managed to destroy it with her bare hands, shotgun gauntlets, and fire that came from her soul?"

"... What the fuck have you been smoking, sir?" He sighed and shook his head, giving her a sideways glance as he moved to stand away from Ruby. Linda, of course, followed.

"I'm serious. It's difficult to explain, but..." He sighed again. "Everyone here - in this school and a lot of people out of it - have these abilities that give them SPARTAN level abilities, if not above. Ruby can move fast. Very fast. Faster than even Kelly, and we all know she's the fastest of us all. The girl that destroyed my armor can take hits and dish them out harder. It's insane." He clenched his jaw, his blue eyes going cold for once. It relaxes Linda slightly, seeing the John she remembered coming back.

"They're not Insurrectionist, though. They're entirely different, not even related to any UNSC or Insurrectionist factions we know of. As far as I know, Captain deGreene either had his info wrong or wanted us here for another reason entirely. Either way, it doesn't sit well with me."

Linda pursed her lips and sighed through her nose. She reached up and pulled off her helmet - regulations be damned, she didn't like talking to John in full armor when he didn't have a shred on - before setting it on her magnetic strip on her thigh. "What's the plan then? HQ was probably run over by those beasts outside the city, Fred and Kelly still think this is an Insurrectionist held planet, and- Wait, shit." She cursed loudly, drawing the attention of the red cloaked girl sitting across the room.

"Kelly - She's gonna blow up this CCT tower thing, since it's what's blocking our communications."

Ruby's eyes widened and John's hardened. "Linda, contact Kelly immediately. Tell her to stand down now. Destroying that tower will drag us into another war, and we're stretched thin as it is." Linda nodded and quickly put on her helmet, jogging towards the door within moments. She accessed her comms and attempted to contact Kelly, only to find out something was jamming it. She cursed, the helmet muting it, and turned back around.

"I can't contact her, something's jamming the damn thing!"

"I can get there fast enough to stop her!" Ruby stood up and Linda opens her mouth to turn her down, only for John to speak up instead.

"Alright." He pulls something out of his pocket and tosses it to her. "Give her that when you reach her. If she's like Linda she shouldn't be too much of a problem to handle, but don't hurt her. Knock her out if it comes to it, but do not shoot or slice her." Ruby nodded and picked up her scythe, transforming it - What the fuck? - into a more compact form. Ruby told John where the CCT tower was so they could meet her down there before practically disappearing in a swirl of rose petals.

"... Okay, the entire galaxy has gone batshit crazy. I'm calling it." John walked by her and grabbed her elbow, pulling her along.

"Come on, we have work to do." With a nod, Linda and John jog towards the nearest airship port, mostly because of the SPARTAN leader's lack of armor. Whoever broke it couldn't have chosen a worse time, Linda idly thought.

* * *

Aidan Jones was a young and hopeful man once - once. All that changed when he signed up to be an Atlesian Officer. His commanding officers and drill sergeants made certain all weaknesses were squashed. Dreams included.

If he had a chance to change that, though, Jones never would. Not for a second. His ability to kick ass and defend innocents from Grimm were more than worth the insignificant sacrifice he made. But that's just the thing - he was trained to fight Grimm and defend innocents, not fight a seven foot tall powerhouse of a… Whatever it is. Robot maybe?

Shaking his head, he aimed down the sights of his laser blaster before squeezing the trigger. A blast of blue plasma streaked out and, much to his surprise, was dodged by the figure. Was he facing a damn hunter level enemy? He didn't sign up for this crap! He yelled in defiance of the monster before him and rapidly squeezed the trigger, sending dozens of bolts sizzling through the air towards his target.

Only for every single one to miss. This thing was too fast to be real. He stepped back in fear, his eyes wide behind his blue visor and his white armor shaking with his body. The way this thing moved… It was too human-like. Was this actually a person in armor, perhaps? He gulped and watched as the figure danced among his comrades, striking anyone within its vicinity with uncanny precision. He saw his buddy - Nathan Daniels - get his throat crushed in by the monster's brute strength. His eyes teared up and he dropped his rifle in shock, backing away slowly. Was this the end for him?

He didn't want it to be. He thought of his family; his mama cooking, his sisters arguing over who's turn it is to do dishes, his baby nephew and young son playing 'Hunter' in the backyard. He thought of his wife and the way she'd scold him for getting too involved in sports when he was supposed to be with family. He wished he did.

He saw her look towards him and, despite himself, felt his trousers become soiled, and shut his eyes tightly, waiting for the inevitable end that would be delivered by this swift demon. Only… It never came. He opened his eyes and was met with nothing but his dead and unconscious comrades, but no blue armored beast. He let out a shaky sigh and promptly passed out.

Kelly weaved through the halls of the large complex, a frown marring her face. She didn't know why she left that lone soldier alive, but she knew she just couldn't bring herself to kill another person. It was a foreign feeling, mercy was. She grunted in annoyance when she found herself back at the main entrance and shook her head. This place was a maze. She looked around and quirked her mouth at the small amount of bombs placed around but shrugged. It'd have to do.

The Spartan pulled out a charge and flicked open the safety hatch, hovering her thumb over the red button. She walked out of the tower and down the road, ignoring all the bodies around her as she counted the meters travelled.

"Ninety-eight… Ninety-nine… One-hundred." The brunette nodded and turned around, only to lean back as a wicked looking scythe sliced in front of her face. She stepped back to get a better look at the assailant and cocked an eyebrow in surprise at the fifteen year old girl. "A little girl?" She frowned at seeing the gigantic scythe being held in the teen's hands. She held it like it weighed little more than a straw broom… "Leave or else I'll be forced to subdue you with force, girl."

The short teen scoffed and pointed her scythe towards the Spartan. "As if! You're planning on destroying the CCT!" Kelly narrowed her eyes and covertly positioned her feet to pounce. "I said leave."

The girl leveled a glare at the much taller woman stubbornly, "No." Kelly leaped before the word was even finished and aimed a kick at the teen's sternum, only to be met with air and rose petals. With narrowed eyes, she looked around for her opponent. How could she move so quickly? It was inhumane. Her radar beeped and a red dot appeared on the lower left corner, forcing her to dodge to the right. The dull side of the scythe slid right next to her, thankfully, and she rolled up to her feet.

A shot rang out from the tip of the scythe, catching Kelly by surprise and slamming into her chest plate. She grunted and stumbled back, further surprised from the powerful caliber stored inside the odd deadly weapon. She looked down and saw a large dent in her right breast plate, causing her to grunt in annoyance and pain. Hopefully that broke the girl's arms…

"What the hell?" Not only were her arms not broken, but she was running towards her with the large scythe trailing behind her. What was this little girl made out of? Clearly the stuff was tough, almost Spartan tough. Almost.

Kelly gave an annoyed 'tsk' and moved towards the younger girl as she swung the scythe, causing the blade to swing behind her as her hand closed around the handle. With the scythe in her grasp and the smaller girl struggling to retake the weapon, Kelly found ample opportunity to attack. Swinging her leg in an arc, she brought out the legs of the Gothic girl before slamming the palm of her free hand into her chest. Out of surprise, the girl let go of her scythe, allowing the Spartan to toss it away. The teen slammed into the ground and Kelly climbed on top of her, restraining her arms to her sides.

"I warned you to stand down." She reminded her opponent, having no trouble keeping the girl restrained despite her struggling. Kelly frowned and looked up at the CCT, her eyebrows furrowed slightly. "Why did you fight me over the tower? There's no way you're Insurrection, you're far too young… Unless they've changed tactics. Wouldn't surprise me."

The red haired girl grunted in effort, which was entirely fruitless. "It's our only source of communication between Kingdoms, destroying it would cause a whole lot of problems lady!" Those silver eyes narrowed at the golden visor of the Spartan, "And I'm not Insurrection! I don't know what's up with you Spartans and saying that, but I'm gettin' real tired of it!" She wasn't Insurrection? Wait, did she say 'Spartans', as in plural?

"... You've met other Spartans?" Her british voice sounded quiet even to her ears. She tried not to get too hopeful, but she couldn't push down the bubble of excitement. Did she know John?

The much smaller girl nodded, her face in a slight grimace, "I'll tell you if you get off of me… Kinda hard to breathe…" Kelly thought it over for less than a second before getting up and helping the young girl up as well. "Whew, thanks. Yeah, I know two other Spartans. Linda and Chi-"

"Kelly! Stand down!" The deep baritone voice of her commanding officer rang throughout the courtyard, causing her to stand at attention. However, if her helmet wasn't covering her face, one would be able to see the pure relief and joy radiating in her brown orbs.

She saw John walk into her peripheral, causing her to blink in surprise. Why wasn't he wearing his armor? This was enemy territory and he was as naked as a babe! "John?" Ignoring all military conduct, she turned her head towards him and looked him over. He wasn't too hurt, save a few dark bruises and slight burns, but that was as far as it went. Much better off than the rest of Blue Team for sure. "Where's your MJOLNIR armor?" Her question was left unanswered as he and Linda walked towards her, and despite his earlier aggressive tone his eyes looked just as relieved to see her.

"What are you doing, Spartan?" The tone kicks her back into routine and she snaps her eyes forward, her hand going back to her eyebrow.

"Destroying enemy resources, sir!" He must have been pissed about this to start acting like a CO rather than a big brother, she idly and comedically thought. Of course a pissed Chief was a scary Chief, so she didn't even think about saying it aloud.

He nodded, his blue eyes staring hard into her visor. He stayed like that for a few, long moments before sighing quietly. "Well cease your attack, Spartan. I want you to clear out the bombs immediately while I deal with the Atlas authorities." Atlas authorities? That nailed the coffin, then. This wasn't Insurrection territory. But why were they shipped here if it wasn't, then…? "Although expect to be kept in holding, I doubt they'll let you go with a slap on the wri-" He was interrupted by a quiet, almost inaudible 'thump', but one too familiar to have ignored in favor of talking. All three Spartans tensed, turning towards the large tower before, suddenly and shockingly, it burst in a fiery explosion, far larger than meager bombs could accomplish.

The only four people conscious in the vicinity were flung back by a powerful shockwave, and all four were met with the open embrace of unconsciousness.

* * *

Isabelle smirked as the shot hit the mark, completely unsurprised by the accuracy of her beloved ship. She fixed her cap and nodded towards the soldier on the gun. "Good shooting, Marcus." 'Cinder will be very pleased.' She looked towards the night half of the planet, smirking wider as she saw lights going out.

Everything was going according to plan, especially with the passengers of the UNSC's Winter's Wrath 'slipping by'. She didn't know why Cinder wanted her to destroy Vale's CCT, but she would never question her orders, even if it was to kill herself. Her loyalty never faltered, and she was proud of it. She shook her head and looked out the port view facing Remnant and clicked her tongue, a low hum passing through her glossed lips.

Now for Phase 2 of this plan. "Drop in the Titans. Forever Fall Forest, if you will." The soldier nodded with a 'Yes Ma'am!' before pressing multiple buttons on his holoscreen. The ship shook slightly as twelve large pods shot out and towards Vale.

"Excellent," complimented Isabelle as she stared towards the planet. She tapped her fingers against her thighs and walked back towards the doors, ignoring the salutes of the guards. She had to inform Cinder of their success. Looking out to the side, she saw the last of the UNSC's fleet being destroyed, and a laugh rumbled from her throat.

She really enjoyed being unstoppable.

* * *

 **Hello one, hello all! Yeah, so, long interval from chapters, and this one is significantly shorter. But that's the price paid for writer's block sadly.**

 **Anyways, this chapter was written from a day after I posted the last chapter (September 13) to, well, today (October 19). During this time I changed a bit of things in my writing, so if there is any obvious differences, they were likely intentional (Example: SPARTANs to Spartans, mostly because SPARTANs was more tedious to write and usually incorrect in writing format when talking about the individuals rather than the project).**

 **Review if you would be so kind, I am in desperate need of some feedback. One I received a while ago by a Guest sparked my interest and actually made me realize a tremendous mistake I've made with the story, that being the team placement. I heavily regret changing the teams, so I might be forced to go back and change that and, subsequently, changing a lot of the sub story between the teams. I may not, since that would be a LOT of work that I simply don't want to do.**

 **But anyways, thanks for reading. I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Another one should be out a month from now, unless I strike gold of motivation for the story.**

 **Until next time.**


	9. Chapter 9

_[Master Chief Petty Officer, Sierra-117]_

 _[22nd of September, 2528]_

 _[0058 hours]_

Everywhere around him was set aflame, the fire licking so close to his face it dried up the sweat almost instantly. He heard the crackle of flame devouring wood and the bloody pops of it boiling away the blood of the Atlas soldiers. Recalling the events prior in milliseconds, he shot up with wide, adrenaline filled eyes. His head whipped around in every direction, soaking in all the damage wrought by the projectile that slammed into the large tower.

He saw destruction, a sight he was well used to after Harvest, but it still gave him the heart wrenching fear for death. Not his own - no, that was beaten out of him brutally by Mendez, but rather his Spartans, and now the students of Beacon. He got up to his feet, albeit slow and shakily, and shook his head to clear the nausea.

He had to find Linda, Kelly, and Ruby. That was his main priority, then they'd find whoever did this. Taking two quick breaths before expending them, he forced his body to move, ignoring the plethora of burns and cuts across his body. ' _Pain is just another motivator,'_ he chanted to himself, the statement giving him more strength.

His feet stepped on something metallic and bumpy, a completely different feel than the metal from the tower, and peered down at it. Catching a glimpse of red and black, he immediately bent down and retrieved it. He gazed at the folded form of _Crescent Rose_ as he put his hand under the barrel portion. He may not know how to use a scythe, but a rifle? That he could work with.

He put it to his shoulder before realizing the issue.

She built this thing like it was a damn pistol. No stock, just a grip. He sighed and looked around for anything to use as an impromptu stock - no way was he going to use an extremely high powered rifle with nothing but his forearms to absorb the recoil - and quickly hastened a piece of metal to the end of it using his shoelaces. He frowned at the sight, knowing it would fall apart relatively quickly, but didn't bother for anything else. John didn't have the time.

He stalked forward, slightly crouched, with the impromptu stock pressing into his shoulder as his finger hovered over the trigger, ready to squeeze at a moment's notice. He didn't _see_ any enemies before the explosion, but from the looks of it, he's been knocked out for a few hours at least.

John's feet kicked something soft and sticky, and he didn't even look down to know what it was, although he did anyways, just to make sure it wasn't one of his own. A charred body of a Beacon student who happened to stray too close to the explosion lay at his feet, the uniform melding with the soft gooey flesh of the rabbit faunus.

He frowned at the bunny ears and knelt down, checking the person for any ID on them. He got lucky and found it underneath the person, pulling it out and looking it over. He breathed a small sigh at seeing an unrecognizable name, meaning it wasn't that Velvet Scarlatina girl. Ruby would've been distraught if one of her friends died.

Storing the ID away he pressed on, stepping over the bodies of the now dead Atlas soldiers. He heard chatter come from his right and quickly ducked behind rubble, his heart beating in his ears. He slowly peeked out of the wreckage towards the noise and saw four armored men, all wearing Atlas gear. The large Spartan sighed a breath of relief and stepped out from behind his cover, holding one arm up while keeping the other on the grip.

"Hey," He called out, and all four of them swiveled immediately to face him, their weapons raised. "Where's-" He was cut off by blue plasma fire, which he was thankfully quick enough to dodge. His eyebrows curved down into a scowl and he aimed _Crescent Rose_ at the men, his voice coming out as a throaty command. "Stand down! I am not the enemy, I repeat, I am not the enemy!" The ignored him and continued firing, one in the back talking through an earpiece. John growled and aimed the sniper at said man, squeezing the trigger without hesitation. The bullet slammed through the soldier, taking half his head with it. However, the stock came undone, and it was only due to his quick reflexes that it didn't fall off. The other three fastened their assault, all of their mouths forming into a furious sneer.

The 17 year old super soldier hid behind another pile of metal and wood, the plasma bolts smacking into his cover. He was appreciative that their plasma wasn't nearly as hot as the Covenant's, but was still cautious not to get hit by it. He re-tied the stock, ensuring it would stay on this time, before peaking out of cover and firing another shot, this one piercing the frontal soldier's chest. It took a huge chunk with it, granting him and the other two a gruesome sight of bone and organs. He frowned at this, heavily confused why their aura wasn't blocking the bullet. Sure, it was powerful, but even average can hold up against a single shot.

The last two, realizing they were standing in the open, dove behind cover of their own. John-117 sighed deeply and checked the clip, clicking his tongue at seeing the three bullets left. Good enough to take out these two, but one bullet left wouldn't do him much good against another group, and he wasn't naive enough to think he could use the scythe part without slicing himself in half.

With two quick breaths, he got out of his cover and ran towards the plasma rifle lying near the soldier with a gaping hole in his chest. He felt the air sizzle as the other two Atlas soldiers fired their weapons at him, but they were pretty shit shots. He slung _Crescent Rose_ onto his back and picked up the plasma rifle as he ran, before quickly turning around and firing shots towards the now exposed soldiers. His shots hit home, one plasma bolt sizzling through #2's neck and two burning through #1's crotch. He would have winced at the sight, but he was too full of adrenaline to care. He reached back for Ruby's weapon but realized it was on the ground.

"... Really wish Yang didn't bang up my armor." He sighed and picked it up, frowning as he looked at both weapons. Then, looking over to #2, an idea started forming in his head. He jogged over there and looked down at the fully intact armor, humming. He heard they used dust to let Atlas armor fit over any body, so maybe…

Now outfitted with white Atlas armor, Chief made his way through the burning wreckage of the CCT and the surrounding buildings. He shifted uncomfortably in the white armor, grunting as it rubbed against his bare skin. It may have been designed to fit any size, but it sure as hell wasn't designed to make it comfortable for every size.

Although that may be attributed to his large size, come to think of it. He sighed through his nostrils and looked around under the blue eye visor of the helmet. John had to admit though, Atlas did make extremely good interfaces for their visors. Dare he say, it's even more advanced than the UNSC's marine outfit, but significantly less so than the MJOLNIR IV armor. Maybe once is all said and done Remnant could become a colony of the United Nations Space Command and be a main provider for their tech.

If it didn't get destroyed that is.

He was shaken out of his thoughts by noise to his right, and he crouched down low in an attempt to stay out of sight. He brandished the Atlesian rifle and looked over the top of a pile of rubble, and was met with a red hood and a golden visor. All three looked at each other, and Chief suddenly realized they were staring. With a sigh of relief, the large man shouldered the weapon and waved at them, showing he was friendly. "Don't shoot, it's me."

They visibly relaxed, and John looked at both of them for but a moment. He took off the helmet and looked around, his mouth quirked slightly. "Good to see you're both alright, but where's Linda?" Ruby and Kelly looked at each other, a comical sight due to the height difference, then back at him before shrugging.

"We haven't seen her since we came to, Chief." Kelly responded. John looked her over and was grateful to see the worst injury seemed to be a broken leg and a crack in her large visor. Other than that, she seemed in even better shape than he. Ruby, though, had some of her hair singed off from the blast, but her aura seemed to have prevented any burns. The bald spots would be an eyesore, though. He handed her the helmet with a nod.

"Well pack up, camping's over. Let's put out the campfire and head out." Ruby put on the helmet and looked around, a frown on her face. John grunted in realization and pulled out _Crescent Rose_ before holding it out to her. She gasped and grabbed it, cooing to it in her strange Ruby ways.

"... Anyways," Kelly started, "Even if I wanted to go, my leg is in bad shape, Chief. I can hardly move it."

"No biofoam?" She shook her head and he sighed, rubbing his sore jaw in thought. He looked around for anything that could splint it into shape, but was brought to attention when someone tapped his arm. The large teen looked over and down at the Gothic girl, who looked a bit sheepish, even with the out-of-place helmet on her head.

"Uh… Well, I can, y'know, _try_ to unlock her aura? It should heal it right up with your augmented healing factors!" She piped in, and Chief was tempted to accept the offer if it would help her.

But what if it messes with her? He hasn't seen anyone unlock aura, let alone anyone pre-aura. What if it messes with one's personality? Or what if aura doesn't like their augmentations and changes her back into a normal human? Painfully, might he add. He couldn't decide, it was too risky.

"Alright." The british accent caused him to falter, and he looked over at Kelly with a confounded face. Did she just agree to it? Did she not realize the serious threat with that? He decided to vocalize his concerns, but much to his chagrin, his childhood best friend remained stubbornly fixed on the idea.

"I'm a nuisance like this, John. If she unlocks my 'aura' then I could get back into the fight sooner than ever. You wouldn't have to wait for me to heal." He pursed his lips and looked down at Ruby, then back at Kelly.

If anything happened, _anything_ , he would take responsibility without a nanosecond of hesitation. "... Fine. But don't screw it up." He directed that towards Ruby, maybe a little harsher than he intended, but his family mattered much more to him than a friend's, who he's known for a significantly less amount of time, feelings. She didn't even flinch though and instead nodded, walking over to the fastest Spartan.

John watched intensely as Ruby placed her palms against her stomach, and listened closely as she muttered a mantra with her eyes closed. He remained on the lookout for any threats, but kept most of his attention on the ritual being performed.

Rose petals fluttered around Ruby as her body glowed silver, and a blue glow engulfed Kelly. He bit his cheek, hard enough to draw blood, and decided to look around for enemies rather than watch. There were no in sight, but he felt the need to look anyway.

A few seconds later the lights died down, and John couldn't help but look back at the two. He saw… Nothing different, besides Kelly's low blue glow fading away. "... Are you… Feeling, any different?" Is that the right question to ask? He didn't know, but he had to hear her say she was alright.

Kelly looked at her hands then over at him, nodding slowly. "I feel… Fantastic, John. It's as though I got augmented a second time, but this time without the pain." He pursed his lips once more and holstered his rifle, walking over to the two. "Take off your helmet, Kelly." Without resistance she pulled it off, her brown orbs staring into his blue ones. He saw the few bruises and cuts on her face fade away, but other than that, there was no physical change. After a few moments John nodded and looked over at Ruby, sighing quietly.

"Thanks." She beamed and nodded, her face stretched into a grin, although she was clearly more sweaty and ragged than before. "... Are you okay?" The helmeted head nodded, and her lips opened to let out a sigh.

"Yeah, just took a lot out of me. It requires aura to unlock aura, and I was running low as it was." He nodded and looked down at Kelly's leg. Ruby seemed to understand his question and spoke up, "It usually takes a couple days for broken bones to heal for normal huntsmen, less for those with large reserves like Jaune, but Kelly has her augmentations and a large reserve of aura. So for all I know, it could only take a few hours, give or take the augments." John grunted with a nod, satisfied with that answer.

Kelly placed her helmet back on and looked around, her body still leaning on her good leg. "Should we wait, or what, sir?" Chief picked up a couple pieces of metal and looked at them, humming.

"Anyone have string?"

* * *

Admiral Ezra Cole looked around his vicinity, his mouth set into a firm frown as he heard Lieutenant Stonewall and Ensign Jackson chatting amicably. He couldn't blame them, they had gotten through alive with _no_ casualties to the pelicans.

But that's just it. There were _none._ Even the best estimates by Lilith indicated almost 200 deaths. Yet, despite an advanced A.I. literally designed to calculate based on data, there were none.

There were two possibilities: Either the Horsemen aren't as formidable as they seem…

Or they let them pass. And judging by the lack of response from the rest of the fleet, it surely wasn't the first one. So, yes, they rejoiced because they lived, but Ezra mourned because it would only end in a fate worse than death for his crew.

"Sir, the strange signals we've been detecting have gone offline after an impact hit these coordinates: x-63, y-122." The child-like voice of Lilith broke his depressing thoughts and he looked over at where she was stationed. He sighed and pulled out a flask, unscrewing the cap and taking an unhealthy swig of the beverage inside.

"Isn't that the city just north of here?" The cube bobbed up and down, as though it nodded, and spoke up once again, "Yes, sir. The few hours I had to look into the data stream, it's a city called 'Vale' that houses a large combat academy to fight against the creatures of 'Grimm'."

"Creatures of Grimm? What, do you mean like grim as in dark, or Brothers of Grimm?" The green pixel cube hummed and floated around the pedestal aimlessly.

"Part of the first, but the second doesn't exist here. I wasn't able to see the origins, but it's likely that they lost that information long ago. I gathered info about their history, and it is covered in blood and death, and not because of the Insurrection or Covenant. In fact, it goes back before even humanity landed on the moon."

"... What are you saying, Lilith? These people have been here before humanity even left Earth?" This was ridiculous. This was fantasy thinking. She must be wrong, there is absolutely no way humans were on two planets for thousands of years. It goes against evolution, for Christ's sake!

"These people, human and faunus, have existed for just as long, if not longer, than humanity on Earth." He sighed deeply, his hands itching towards the flask once more. "I managed to dig deep right before the explosion, and caught one statements that struck me as odd, sir."

He raised a graying eyebrow towards the artificial intelligence, "What would that be?"

"Vision of Dying World, AKA Queen." He hummed, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "Sounds morbid. Is that their leader, Lilith?"

She made a noise of disagreement before she, too, hummed, "No sir. They have no direct leader, rather a council in Vale. Military rule in Atlas, no direct leaders in Vacuo, and a similar governing system in Mistral to Vale," Cole nodded with a hum.

"Well, we'll have to make contact with them then." He turned towards a squad of ODST and Marines, cupping his mouth with his hands. "Atten-shun!" All troops stood at attention crisply except for the ones actively doing a job.

"I need Staff Sergeant Johnson on the double!" A few murmurs went around before a tall, dark skinned man in his middle-ages stepped forward. He saluted to Ezra.

"Sergeant, I want you to take Lieutenant Stonewall and a team of marines to make contact with the council of Vale. Request a meeting between them and I. Dismissed, soldier!"

"Sir, yes, sir!" Johnson shouted out, releasing his salute before walking off towards a squad of eight marines. Lieutenant Stonewall followed after him, like a lost puppy.

Upon Johnson's arrival to the squad, all marines saluted. The veteran grinned and put a lit cigar in his mouth, taking a long drag of it. He blew it out into the open, slightly chilly night air. "Alright maggots! You heard the admiral, we head out right now and get to that city! We need to contact the people there so we can get ourselves in our PJs and take a nice, long nap on a warm cozy bed!" All men saluted and let out a 'ooh-rah!' before going off to grab their equipment.

* * *

Giant explosions were heard miles away from a farm as dozens of giant flesh-like pods fell from the sky at speeds far surpassing meteors. The pods slammed into the earth, causing the very ground to shake for miles and plumes of dust to rise in the air hundreds of meters. The entire forest was crushed by the force of the blasts.

Hundreds of tentacles emerged from the pods, each tens of meters long and easily thicker than the fallen trees around them. The tentacles pushed against the ground, pushing up even larger, more horrific creatures. Covered in hundreds of eyes - human and other - with dozens of random limbs and organs spread out around their bodies. Green gas spewed forth from obnoxious pours on their decaying skin as a guttural growl sounded off from each of their deformed mouths.

The foul beasts easily reached twenty meters at their maximum height, and could be seen from miles away. Twenty four of these abominable monsters stood in the flattened out forest, all looking around with their bulbous bodies bouncing and producing disgusting gasses and liquids.

Suddenly, each one let out a high pitched screech, loud and powerful enough to shatter windows and cause the very earth to quake, before devouring every fallen tree and plant and animal in their immediate vicinity. They left nothing, not even bugs, in their wake as they feasted on life of all kinds. Their mouths were busy at work, and their bodily fluid was quickly breaking down any life that dare touch it.

Rodents squealed in pain as specks of the atrocious liquid landed on their furry hides, and the acidic substance made quick work of them by burning right through. The liquefied animals were quickly absorbed into the foul smelling flesh of these titans.

And Titans they were. Like the ancient powerhouses of Greek mythology, they were incomprehensibly powerful to the normal human. The ability to consume any and all life, using those parts of their prey to build themselves better and stronger, and then continue to rampage on a world until there was nothing left made them Gods of destruction that Grimm could only dream to become.

But despite the shared goal of ultimate destruction of Grimm and Titan, the monsters of darkness were just as equal, and no more greater, to their prey in the eyes of the rotten beings. They consumed Beowulf and Ursa, Deathstalker and Nevermore, and even more powerful Grimm like Geists and the gorilla-like Beringel. All were nothing more than obstacles, some more difficult than others, but ultimately each ended up the same.

One with the Titans.

Isabelle smirked as she watched the events unfold through a drone, watching as the two dozen Titans ate and grew. She idly noticed the black color slowly covering their deformed bodies; a sign of their adaptation. She would be willing to wager that, in time, bones would cover them, too.

It would have the appearance of Grimm but the power of Gods. Really, Isabelle was glad she wasn't down there. Even with her powers, she had no misconceptions that she'd be capable of taking on all twenty four of Salem's creations.

But, luckily, she wasn't down there, and she had her orbital bombardment primed and ready in case the Titans became too much of a threat to their plans.

Oh, how she couldn't wait to see it demolish those foolish loyalists…

* * *

Sergeant Johnson sighed out a puff of his cigar, his attention focusing purely on the destroyed tower in the distance. He was told by a citizen the tower is where 'Beacon Academy' is located, meaning it's likely that a lot of kids died.

He couldn't help but wonder, though. Why the fuck put an important piece of technological innovation in a school? That seemed damn stupid to him. Any terrorist with half a brain could sneak in kids and have them fuck it up. He huffed, deciding to think more on it later - or never. It wasn't his job to design these things for these guys, after all.

He felt the transport Warthog slow to a stop and looked forward. In front of them was a road block. "Seems they're doing some construction work…" He sighed and jumped out, slamming the side of his fist against the back, "Get out, kiddies! Time to see our new playmates!" He heard the rustle of the squad of marines he was tasked with leading and looked over at the driver, his second-in-command Lieutenant Stonewall. "You wanna stay here and watch over the 'hog?" She nodded, flashing him a grin.

"Sure thing, Sarge. Keep the munchkins outta trouble," The veteran had to chuckle and grinned back, waving off her concerns as he stomped out the rest of his finished cigar. He banged on the back once more and looked around the area. He saw very little people - likely because of the explosion of this CCT and Beacon Academy, but he wasn't complaining. He didn't want attention to hinder his mission.

He looked back and saw the eight marines clambering out of the back of the Warthog and shook his head. "C'mon punks, let's get a move on!" They all saluted and began moving around, all clearly confused on where to go.

"Uhhh, sir? Where are we supposed to go?" The newest addition to the squad, Private Edward Buck, was the first to speak. Johnson sighed then began to point somewhere, before stopping.

"... Shit, why didn't I ask the civvies where the hell the council was?" He muttered, scratching his chin thoughtfully. Luckily, Stonewall seemed to be ahead of all of them, as she threw a map at Johnson. It hit his head and he picked it up while grumbling in annoyance.

"Ah, alright! This way maggots!" He turned around and started walking down the sidewalk next to the road under construction. The streets were eerily silent, which was strange considering most should be panicking over the explosion and deaths of, likely, hundreds, if not thousands. Slowing down his walking, he motioned for the marines to shoulder their rifles. Doing the same, his XBR55 Service Rifle, commonly and lovingly referred to as the Battle Rifle, he pressed the stock against his right shoulder, and looked around at the buildings.

One of his marines - Colonel Ryans - voiced their thoughts, "Where is everyone?"

"I dunno man," Another replied to him, "It's kinda creepy though. Kinda reminds me of one of those scary movies though. What was it called? I think it was somethin' like 'The Hollow Weenie'," The idiot grinned, his joke making a few of the others laugh. Avery huffed, secretly finding it a little amusing himself, but kept his eyes focused on the surroundings.

Private Buck walked next to the older man, his blue eyes, still empty of the haunting that awaits him in the campaign against the Covenant and Insurrectionists, looking through windows into dark, empty rooms. "Can an explosion do something like this, sir?"

He pursed his lips and reflexively reached for a cigar, only to come up empty handed. He cursed under his breath, "No, not even the Covenant can do something like this." Was it the Insurrectionists then? God knows they've became so much more advanced in the recent years. "Doesn't matter what did it, Private, all that matters is it didn't affect these council guys." Buck nodded, the action causing his helmet to dip over his face, which he quickly fixed.

"Up ahead!" One of the marines cried out, pointing up the road, before a blast of blue plasma shot through the poor sap's skull. Johnson yelled, "Find some cover marines!" Before diving to the side himself, hiding behind a yellow and black motorcycle. He looked at it and blinked at the scribbled 'Bumblebee' on the side. He shook his head and looked over the seat, his brown eyes narrowing at the armored men down the road. Was it Vale personnel, maybe?

Holstering his rifle, he held up a hand with fingers stretched and palm out, "Stop firing! We're friendlies!" The only response given was another shot of the plasma, which was more akin to a powerful laser than plasma if his experience with the Covenant meant anything. He grunted and quickly brought his hand down before he lost it or any fingers and brandished his BR once more.

"Open fire! Aim to wound, not to kill!" A resounding shout of 'Yes sir!' rang through the street, before dozens of bullets started firing towards the white armored soldiers. Johnson grinned and put the barrel of his weapon over the seat of the motorcycle before squeezing the trigger, a three round burst of his own accelerating down towards his targets.

He scowled when he saw the bullets hitting, but not penetrating their armor. What were these guys? Did this Vale place have super soldiers as well?

That'd make this mission much, much harder he realized. The Staff Sergeant grunted and continued the onslaught of bullets. Even Spartans could die, so why not these guys? The marines' tenacity proved fruitful, as one of the soldiers fell to his knees after a shot from Buck pierced his shin.

The commanding officer was about to give congratulations before he was pulled back by the scruff of his collar, and tossed a good ten meters down the street. He landed with a thud and a grunt of pain, thankful that his body armor absorbed most of the impact, before looking over at where he was thrown from.

"... What. The. Fuck?" A blonde haired girl - _who was on fucking fire_ \- stood where he was recently residing. Her red eyes glared into his brown ones, completely ignoring the firefight happening around her. Avery shook his head and looked over at one of his men, who was aiming their assault rifle at the teen, "Don't shoot! Focus on the armored guys down the street! I can handle a little girl on her period!" The marine hesitantly refocused back on the main threat, and Johnson sighed through his nose. "Okay, missy… What the _fuck_ is your problem?!" And how the hell did she toss him like he was a sack of potatoes down the damn street?

She walked towards him, her eyes glazed in fury, and Johnson leveled his sidearm at her, his lips peeled back into a sneer. "Another step, and I put a bullet between your damn demon-y eyes!" It was an empty threat, no way would he kill a teen girl, no matter how angry or...on fire…she was. Thankfully she stopped, meaning his threat worked.

The staff sergeant huffed and stood up before wiping off the dust on his armor and outfit. "Alright, so mind answering my question now?" asked Johnson, his voice dripping with annoyance and irritation.

The girl clenched her fists, her ruby colored eyes narrowing at him, before growling out, "You scratched the paint on my bike!"

… Johnson looked over at the motorcycle, then the girl with a deadpan look on his face. "Seriously? You're pissed about a bike when your city is in complete chaos after an entire _school_ got blown the fuck up?"

The girl blinked, her eyes turning purple somehow, "Wait, what? A school got…?" She looked over in the distance towards Beacon Academy, then took a step back in surprise. Did she not hear the explosion that took place literally hours before? "When the hell did that happen?!"

Avery shook his head and holstered his magnum before pulling out his battle rifle, "Doesn't matter kid, just get out of here. You're kind of interrupting me and my boy's bonding time." He started to walk past her, but she put an admittedly strong hand on his shoulder.

"You're fighting Atlas? Did you do that?" Her eyes were back to being red, and Johnson grunted in thought. Atlas? Guess that was another country or something here.

"Yes and no. Listen, I ain't gotta explain to you why we're here, just know we didn't attack a damn school full of kids." He shrugged of her hand and began jogging towards the battle. He saw another one of his men lying in a pool of blood, the poor guy's entire stomach open for the world to see. He shook his head sadly but aimed down his battle rifle's sights, the crosshair pointed at one of the Atlas soldiers crotch, before squeezing the trigger.

He felt someone move up next to him and looked over, seeing the blonde chick once more, and groaned. "What the fuck, blondie? This is a military operation, and civvies ain't allowed to interfere!" She rolled her now purple eyes and looked down towards the Atlas soldiers, his mouth quirked to the side.

"I can knock these dude's out for you, but only if you tell me why you're fighting. Depending on your answer, it'll either be them or you though," She grinned at the Sergeant, and for a minute he wished he was younger. Why the hell weren't there girls like this when he was young? Damn it all.

He grunted, ignoring entirely the thoughts that just transpired, and pointed down the road, "We're trying to contact the Vale council and set up a meeting between them and my CO, Admiral Ezra Cole, and attempt to set up an alliance between them and the United Nations Space Command."

He heard the girl next to him gasp and spin towards him, her eyes wide, "You're with the UNSC?!" She yelled/asked him, causing him to lean away for the sake of his hearing.

"Uh, yeah… You heard of us?" She nodded, her face splitting into a wide grin.

"Oh man, Chief is gonna be _so_ grateful that I found you guys that he'll totally do a rematch!" Johnson's eyes narrowed, and before he knew it, the barrel of his battle rifle was facing the girl.

"Chief? As in Master Chief Petty Officer, the large guy in olive green armor?" She nodded, her previous grin gone and replaced with a frown, "How do you- No, nevermind." He shook his head and pointed the rifle forward once more. "Help us with these guys and take us to him after I set up the meeting. He and Blue Team are why we're here."

The teen grinned and, punching the air, extended her bracelets into gauntlets. Johnson stared incredulously at the sight, but ultimately sighed in exasperation. Screw this planet, man…

She then jumped out from behind cover and ran towards the group of Atlas soldiers, her hair blazing once more with fire. The soldiers seemed to shrink back, and all their attention went from his men to her. The sergeant opened his mouth to shout a warning, but was surprised when she took a blast straight to her face and kept pushing as though it were nothing more than a water gun.

Upon reaching them, she pulled back a fist, her grin wide and full of bloodthirsty excitement, before directing a powerful slug at the front soldier. Her fist made contact with his chest, denting the armor and causing him to fly back and through a wall. One of the marines - Private O'Nell - whistled in awe, and everyone else could only nod in agreement.

They were only further impressed by the following display of pure power. The flaming girl punched, kicked, kneed, god damn _headbutted_ anyone in her way. He saw her decimate their forces faster than it took his entire squad to defeat a single soldier. "Holy Hell…" Johnson shook his head and pointed down at an approaching group of Atlas soldiers, clearly reinforcements meant to take the marines out but now focusing entirely on stopping the raging monster of a teenage girl down the road. They reloaded and pointed their rifles down the street and, with a shout of 'Fire!', bullets sprayed into the dozen white armored soldiers.

Ten marines each firing assault rifles and battle rifles against a dozen Atlas soldiers who have laser guns didn't seem like a fair fight for Johnson. For the white armored pansies, that is. Pulling a pin from a grenade and with a savage grin, the 'Hollow Weenie' jokester from before chunked it into the group of Atlas soldiers. A powerful explosion of shrapnel and heat engulfed the group, the ones closest to the center of the explosion screaming in pain.

He felt more than saw the yellow themed girl rush past him, and before he knew it she was back in the fray, this time combating the reinforcement soldiers. The cigar addict looked behind him and saw a squad of unconscious - or dead, he didn't know - Atlas personnel, and let out a low whistle of appreciation. Chief sure did know how to make friends, didn't he?

"Alright Marines! We gotta back up little miss Goldilocks here and escort her to the bear's house! We lose her, we lose our source for the Chief!" Everyone nodded, too high on adrenaline to respond properly, and rushed forward to help the powerhouse. He looked over at Buck, who appeared slightly apprehensive, and motioned him forward, "C'mon private, we ain't got all day!" He nodded, licking his lips before running forward. Johnson followed immediately after him.

He saw her knock out two more soldiers, smashing their skulls together hard enough to dent their hard armor, and chuckled slightly. Is this what it felt like to have absolutely overpowered support? No wonder why the Covenant liked the Hunters, and the Insurrection their damn Horsemen. It felt great to demolish your enemies.

He felt something over his head, and saw his hat - burnt to a crisp - fall to the ground. He stared at it for but a split second before unholstering his magnum and firing off an entire clip against the asshole who ruined his favorite hat. The powerful pistol kicked in his grip, but he held firm. With one last bullet in the clip, the enemy soldier fell forward, a hole punctured straight through his chest. He clicked his tongue and promptly reloaded the pistol. So much for no killing the enemy.

The battle silenced and he looked up from the weapon. There was only his men - all nine present - and Goldilocks. He grinned and nodded towards the girl, who responded in kind. "Good job boys! Now we let this nice lady escort us to the council hall, and we'll escort her to the Master Chief." Looking over at the girl, he saw her rubbing her chin in thought. "... Somethin' up, missy?"

"Hm?" She looked up, grinned, and shook her head, "Nah, just thinking. By the way, the name's Yang. Not 'missy' or 'Goldilocks'." She glared at him with that finishing statement. He shrugged, unfazed by the glare.

"Alrighty then, 'Yang', lead the way," She gave a mock salute before twisting on her heel, her other leg 'accidentally' kicking one of the unconscious men, then began walking down the street.

* * *

Blake, Jaune, Pyrrha, Weiss, Ren, and Nora all looked around the refugee camp, looking for their teammates and partners. Luckily they were each in the dorms when the Cross Continental Transmit System was destroyed, but the spiteful half-sisters were not.

They saw plenty of burnt and blown up bodies to know what happened if you weren't far enough away from it. So they searched from dusk till dawn but ultimately came up empty handed. It was enough to make Blake go mad, although she wasn't too close to Ruby nor Yang. Of course Ruby made her a little worried, since she was one of her teammates, but Yang? She didn't know her that well, and what she did know is that she was a complete bitch to the younger girl for apparently no reason.

But she digresses. Best not to fret over their relationship status when she should be worried for their _living status._ With a sigh, Blake sat down in her team's tent and picked up a glass of cold water. Taking a few sips, she looked over the map of Vale on her sleeping bag contemplatively.

She frowned and looked instead down at her ice water, but the sound of the tent's front rustling caught her attention, and she looked up to meet Weiss' eyes.

"... Hello." started Blake, a cautious look on her face. Weiss looked over the tent before clearing her throat, clearly just as awkward as her but attempting to hide it.

"Hello," she replied, "I was wondering if you wouldn't mind… Talking, for a bit?" The cat faunus raised an eyebrow. What would she want to talk about? These were the first words either of them have spoken to each other, after all. Maybe she wanted to talk about Yang, or even Ruby? She didn't know why, though. From the looks of it, Weiss wasn't too fond of either.

"You and I are both leaders of our teams, WYNN and BRRJ, so it's only natural we come together in this time of need, right?" She nodded to her own statement, completely disregarding the blank stare Blake was giving her, "So, it's our duty to work together to find our missing team members and create a sense of unity to mend our broken morale." Blake nodded this time, humming softly.

"I suppose."

"Great! Then," Weiss held out her hand, a pleasant smile on her face, but Blake wasn't that naive to believe a Schnee could be so kind to another out of 'good intentions'. But she shook the hand anyways, giving a small smile of her own, "It would seem we're a joint team for now." Another nod from the bow clad girl.

"Is that all?" Blake asked, her amber eyes staring into the blues of Weiss'. The white themed girl hummed and shook her head.

"Not yet, I have one more request," Oh? "I'm planning on getting our teams out of this refugee camp and back to Beacon."

"What for? Isn't it better to be here, around our professors and peers?" Blake inquired, a fine brow raised in speculation.

"Ozpin is missing, our two team members are missing, that large green man is missing, and," Weiss let out a sigh, "Nora can't handle being stuck here. She's too hyper for that," That made sense, she supposed.

But still, Blake wasn't too sure. Ruby and Yang would likely come here or Beacon, and Atlas personnel would probably escort them here. The large guy, 117, might be with them, but then again, she didn't care too much about him. She's only seen him a handful amount of times and never even spoke a simple 'hello' to him. Ozpin was their headmaster, he could definitely take care of himself. Finally, Nora could likely be calmed down by Ren, or restrained until they get released.

But… She looked back at the map and, with a heavy sigh, nodded, "I'll tell my team once they get back." Weiss nodded and smiled at Blake, then took her leave with a short 'see you later'.

Blake sipped her water once more, her eyes not having left the map since she agreed.

* * *

 _[?]_

 _[? Years Ago]_

 _[? AM/PM]_

 _A black cloak billowed in the wind, the pale wearer staring out over a vast sea of reds and purples as the shattered moon hung above. Purple crystals covered the landscape, each one covered in tiny black dots. Beside the pale wearer floated a ball, a couple feet in diameter, that glowed a daunting red._

" _196 Tormented Soul," the smooth, sultry voice of the cloak clad woman broke the eerie silence of the morbid land, "bring to me the serum. It's time." The floating orb made a croaking sound but flew off towards a Victorian styled mansion behind them, the walls a dark colored steel with blue and red lines of energy flowing through them._

 _It came back quickly, bringing with it a clear bottle of bubbling black liquid, and held it out to her using a form of telekinesis. The mysterious woman grabbed it, her pale hands littered in black veins, and held it up to her black empty eyes. "Good… It is time, my children…" She put a few drops on the ground, the tiny droplets sizzling like acid on the dirt. Steam came off of the liquid and, not long after, tiny beasts crawled out of it, completely covered in black and white bones with red designs. She smirked and held out her hand, a soft glow encompassing both the hand and the tiny beasts, before they grew to be gigantic in size._

 _A large ghost like creature, an even larger lion, a monstrous sized elephant, and, the largest of all, a lizard with four legs and a pair of wings - a dragon - stood in front of her, each looking around in childlike curiosity. The pale being smirked and held out her hands, her cloak once more fluttering due to the wind._

" _Welcome to the world of Remnant, my grim children… I am Vision of a Dying World, your Goddess. You can do as you please - wreak havoc, slumber, explore, whatever… So long as your goal remains true; the obliteration of humanity on this world. Once you do that, then, and only then, will we retake the galaxy… And it will be_ glorious." _A savage grin spread across the face of Vision, her eyes momentarily flashing with insanity._

* * *

 **Don't be so dramatic Salem, sheesh. You're just doing it to be cliche.**

 **Hello all! Yeah, this update was a lot quicker than my last few. Been able to write a lot, which is weird because I've been busier than ever. Took the ASVAB, getting ready for my robotics competition tomorrow, preparing to enlist in the Army, working out, school work, etc.**

 **But whatevs, I got to write this. Been hit with a lot of motivation for this story recently, likely due to my renewed interest in Halo, so I wanted to get this done as soon as possible. It's a little over 7k words, although I wanted to get it to 10k but couldn't find a proper way to make it longer without adding more POV changes. This one already had quite a few, so I decided not to.**

 **Please leave a review if you enjoyed it, have some ideas for what I could do next chapter, have constructive criticism, or just plain out loathe my story! All is appreciated.**

 **Until next time.**


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